ILs^y'  '•>rV^! 


GLACIERES 


OR 


FREEZING  CAVERNS 


TBK 

UNIVERSITY 
PA 


GLACIERES 


OR 


FREEZING  CAVERNS 


BY 


EDWIN  SWIFT  BALCH 

i, 

A.  B.  (HARVARD)  ;  F.  R.  G.  S. 

MEMBER  OF  THE  FRANKLIN  INSTITUTE 

OF  THE  APPALACHIAN  MOUNTAIN  CLUB 

OF  THE  AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY 

AUTHOR  OF  "  MOUNTAIN  EXPLORATION,"  &c. 


PHILADELPHIA 

ALLEN,   LANE    &    SCOTT 
IQOO 


Copyright,  1900,  by 
EDWIN   SWIFT    BALCH. 


PRESS  OF 

ALLEN,  LANE  &  SCOTT, 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


THIS    BOOK    IS 
AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED    TO 

MY   MOTHER, 

WHOSE    DEEP    INTEREST   IN 

MY    WORK    HAS 
HELPED    ME   GREATLY. 


PRELIMINARY    NOTE. 


MANY  kind  friends  have  given  me  information  about 
glacieres  or  assistance  in  my  work.  I  am  especially 
indebted  to  Mr.  Robert  Butler,  of  San  Jose,  Cal. ;  Mr. 
F.  H.  Gushing,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Professor 
Charles  E.  Fay,  of  Tufts  College,  Mass. ;  Professor 
Eberhard  Fugger,  of  Salzburg,  Austria ;  Mr.  Alois  F. 
Kovarik,  of  Decorah,  Iowa ;  Monsieur  E.  A.  Martel,  of 
Paris,  France ;  Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  Mass. ; 
Professor  I.  C.  Russell,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. ;  Miss  H. 
Varena,  of  Wiesbaden,  Germany ;  and  Miss  Mary  Coxe, 
Mr.  G.  L.  Farnum,  Mr.  J.  E.  Farnum,  Mr.  F.  L.  Gar- 
rison, Mr.  W.  C.  Hall,  Mr.  E.  I.  H.  Howell,  Mrs.  Horace 
Jayne,  Mr.  W.  E.  Meehan,  Mr.  C.  J.  Nicholson,  Mr.  G.  B. 
Phillips,  Mr.  Bunford  Samuel,  Mr.  W.  W.  Wagner,  and 
Dr.  W.  H.  Wahl,  of  Philadelphia.  I  wish  to  acknowledge 

(also  the  help  I  have  derived  from  the  Bibliotheque  Na- 
tionale  and  the  library  of  the  British  Museum. 

E.  S.  B. 

PHILADELPHIA,  February  the   loth,   1900. 


CONTENTS. 


PACE 

PART     I.  EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES i 

PART    II.  THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE 109 

PART  III.  LIST  OF  GLACIERES 165 

PART  IV.  SOME  OPINIONS  ABOUT  GLACIERES 269 

PART    V.  LIST  OF  AUTHORS 313 

INDEX 329 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ICE  SLOPE  AND  BASIN,  KOLOWRATSHOHLE Frontispiece 

GLACIERE  DE  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT 8 

ICE  STALAGMITES,  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT 10 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT n 

ICE  STALAGMITES,  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT 12 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  D6BSINA 15 

THE  LOWER  ROSITTEN  ALP  AND  THE  UNTERSBERG 16 

THE  ENTRANCE  OF  THE  KOLOWRATSHOHLE 18 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  KOLOWRATSHOHLE 19 

TOP  OF  ICE  SLOPE,  KOLOWRATSHOHLE 20 

AT  THE  ENTRANCE  OF  THE  SCHAFLOCH 22 

HOLLOW  CONES  AND  FISSURE  COLUMNS,  SCHAFLOCH 24 

ON  THE  ICE  SLOPE,  SCHAFLOCH 26 

IN  THE  REAR  OF  THE  SCHAFLOCH 28 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  DEMENYFALVA 29 

THE  FRAUENMAUER  AND  THE  GSOLL  ALP 38 

IN  THE  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE 40 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE 42 

ICE  STALACTITE,  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE 42 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  SUCHENREUTHER  EISLOCH 57 

LA  GLACIERE  DE  SAINT-GEORGES 62 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  GLACIERE  DE  SAINT-GEORGES 64 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  GRAND  CAVE  DE  MONTARQUIS 72 

THE  BLUFF  AT  DECORAH 86 

ENTRANCE  OF  THE  CAVE  OF  DECORAH 88 

Locus  GLACIALIS,  CAVE  OF  DECORAH 90 

GORGE  AT  ELLENVILLE 92 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  PIT  NEAR  SUMMIT 97 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN    ....  103 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  A  WINDHOLE 125 

FREEZING  CAVERN  AT  BRAINARD  ....                                         .  180 


PART  I. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES. 


SUBTERRANEAN   ICE  IN  KING'S  RAVINE. 

Subterranean  ice  was  brought  to  my  notice  by  a 
mere  accident,  late  in  the  month  of  September,  1877, 
while  on  a  descent  of  King's  Ravine,  on  Mount  Adams, 
in  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire.  We  had 
just  descended  the  rock  wall  of  the  mountain  and  had 
reached  the  head  of  the  gorge,  when  my  companion, 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Lowe,  the  well-known  Appalachian  guide 
of  Randolph,  suddenly  said  to  me,  "  Would  you  like  a 
piece  of  ice  ?  I  can  get  you  some  presently."  I  an- 
swered, "  Certainly,"  wondering  where  he  would  find 
any.  When  we  got  among  the  big  boulders,  which  form 
so  rough  a  path  for  the  traveler  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ravine,  Mr.  Lowe  climbed  down  under  one  of  the  big- 
gest, and  presently  reappeared  with  a  good  sized  lump  of 
ice.  I  was  much  impressed  at  finding  ice  at  the  end 
of  the  summer  in  this  gorge,  when  for  months  past  no 
ice  or  snow  had  been  visible  on  the  surrounding  moun- 
tains. I  noticed  also  the  peculiar,  flaky  formation  of  the 
ice,  and  saw  at  once  that  it  was  something  new  to  me, 


2  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  in  fact  it  was  a  piece  of  what  I  have  since  learned 
to  know  as  "  prismatic  ice." 

GLACIERE  NEAR  BRISONS. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  1880,  I  traveled  through 
the  Alps,  with  a  friend  from  Philadelphia.  On  the  i7th 
of  September,  we  drove  from  Geneva  to  Bonneville. 
Thence  we  started  on  foot  without  a  guide,  and  as  a 
result  got  lost  in  the  woods,  from  which  we  only  ex- 
tricated ourselves  at  nightfall.  After  retracing  our  steps 
to  Bonneville,  we  were  glad  to  find  a  man  to  show 
us  the  way  we  should  have  taken,  and  finally  reached 
the  little  village  of  Brisons  in  France,  where  we  slept. 
The  next  day  we  took  a  guide  and  made  our  way  across 
the  mountains  to  Annecy,  at  one  spot  going  out  of  our 
direct  route  to  see  a  place  spoken  of  by  the  natives  as 
a  glaciere.  It  was  a  little  pit,  and  at  the  base  of  one 
side  thereof  was  the  mouth  of  a  small  cave  into  which 
we  could  not  see  any  distance.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
pit  lay  a  mass  of  dirty  snow  and  ice  to  which  we  did 
not  descend,  as  the  sides  of  the  pit  were  sheer  and 
smooth,  and  there  was  no  ladder.  This  pit  seemed  to 
be  more  of  the  nature  of  a  gully  filled  with  winter 
snow,  than  a  true  rock  cave  containing  ice. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  L'HAUT-D'AVIERNOZ. 

Three  days  after  this,  on  Tuesday,  the  2ist  of  Sep- 
tember, 1880,  we  visited  the  two  largest  glacieres  on  the 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  3 

Mont  Parmelan,  near  Annecy,  France.  At  Annecy  we 
inquired  at  the  hotel  for  a  man  who  knew  the  Mont 
Parmelan;  and,  after  finding  one,  we  made  our  way  to 
Les  Villaz,  where  we  spent  the  night  in  an  auberge. 
Our  companion  was  an  odd  personage.  He  was  small, 
about  fifty  years"  of  age,  and  looked  meek,  crushed  and 
hungry.  He  wore  a  long  black  frock  coat  and  black 
trousers,  thin  boots  and  a  linen  shirt,  certainly  not  the 
ideal  outfit  for  a  cave  explorer.  Under  his  care  we 
started  early  in  the  morning  and  toiled  up  a  mountain 
path  some  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand  meters,1  through 
woods  and  pastures,  to  the  higher  plateau  of  Mont  Par- 
melan, in  which  was  situated  the  first  glaciere.  This  was 
in  a  great  pit,  at  the  bottom  of  which,  on  one  side,  was 
a  big  cave.  On  the  side  of  the  pit  opposite  to  the 
opening,  there  was  a  steep  rock  slope,  forty  or  fifty 
meters  long,  whose  lower  portion  was  covered  with  snow. 
Down  this  slope  we  descended  with  but  little  difficulty, 
reaching  at  the  bottom  an  almost  level  ice  floor  which 
spread  over  the  entire  cave  and  was  formed  throughout 
of  thick,  solid  ice.  A  second  and  much  smaller  pit  in  the 
roof  of  the  cave  opened  directly  over  the  ice  floor ;  and 
under  this  pit  rose  a  small  cone  of  ice,  some  two  meters 
high,  the  only  one  in  this  glaciere. 

The  glaciere  itself  was  approximately  round  in  shape, 
and  some  twenty  meters  in  diameter.  At  one  place  the 
rock  wall  was  broken  and  we  could  look  into  a  much 

1  The  metric  system  is  used  throughout  this  book,  except  in  a  few 
quotations.  Thermometric  observations  are  given  in  degrees  Centigrade. 


4  GLACIERES   OR    FREEZING    CAVERNS. 

smaller  inner  cave  or  chamber.  Into  this  we  could  not 
penetrate  on  account  of  a  long,  narrow  crack  or  hole 
which  yawned  in  the  ice  floor  for  a  distance  of  some 
five  or  six  meters  and  continued  through  the  opening 
into  the  second  chamber.  We  tried  to  cut  our  way 
along  the  side  of  the  hole,  but  had  to  give  it  up, 
finding  the  ice  too  hard  and  our  time  too  short.  The 
crack  or  hole,  whose  sides  were  solid  ice,  proved  con- 
clusively that  the  ice  in  this  glaciere  was  many  meters 
in  thickness,  for  we  could  look  a  long  way  down  into 
the  hole,  certainly  for  ten  or  twelve  meters,  until  the 
ice  sides  disappeared  in  darkness,  without  any  visible 
bottom.  The  hole  cannot  be  spoken  of  as  a  crevasse, 
for,  besides  not  looking  like  a  crevasse,  it  was  cer- 
tainly formed  by  other  causes  than  those  which  form 
the  crevasses  in  glaciers,  since  there  is,  as  a  rule,  no 
perceptible  movement  in  subterranean  ice.  Doubtless, 
the  hole  was  due  to  the  drainage  of  the  cave,  which 
undoubtedly  passed  off  through  the  hole.  There  may 
be,  nevertheless,  some  little  motion  in  the  ice  of  this 
glaciere,  for  it  is  evident  that  it  is  fed  principally  directly 
by  the  winter  snows  ;  which,  whether  as  frozen  or  melted 
snow,  descend  gradually,  by  the  force  of  gravitation,  from 
the  slope  of  the  pit  into  the  glaciere. 

As  for  any  possibility  of  this  great  mass  of  ice  melt- 
ing away  and  forming  again  in  any  one  year,  it  passes 
belief;  there  must  be  at  least  the  cubic  contents  of  a 
dozen  ordinary  houses  in  the  cave,  and  such  a  mass 
could  hardly  be  destroyed  or  formed  again  in  any  such 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  5 

short  space  of  time  as  a  fall  or  spring.     This  is,  there- 
fore, probably  a  permanent  or  perennial  glaciere. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  CHAPUIS. 

Starting  out  from  the  Glaciere  de  I'Haut-d'Aviernoz 
we  walked  across  the  plateau  of  the  Mont  Parmelan, 
en  route  for  the  second  glaciere.  This  plateau  is  a  curious 
rock  formation,  consisting  of  what  the  natives  call  lapiaz, 
which  might  be  translated  "stone-heaps."  The  plateau 
is  full  of  great  projecting  rocks ;  and  myriads  of  cracks 
and  crevices  everywhere  rend  the  surface,  and  over 
these  crevices  one  sometimes  has  to  jump.  Still,  I  do 
not  remember  any  particular  difficulty.  It  was  certainly 
not  nearly  as  bad  walking  as  the  taluses  of  loose  rocks 
one  meets  at  the  base  of  many  mountains. 

Our  guide  led  us  for  about  an  hour  across  the  plateau 
in  a  southerly  direction,  and  then,  looking  over  the  side  of 
the  Parmelan,  with  a  sweep  of  the  arm  covering  south, 
west  and  north,  he  told  us  that  the  glaciere  lay  between 
those  points,  but  he  did  not  know  exactly  where.  This 
seemed  a  rather  hopeless  prospect,  so,  as  we  had  no 
clue  to  the  whereabouts  of  our  prospective  hole,  we 
descended  to  a  couple  of  chalets  we  saw  some  two 
hundred  meters  below,  but  which  at  least  were  in  the 
direction  of  Annecy.  We  followed  a  goat-herd's  path 
which  led  to  the  chalets  from  the  plateau,  one  of  those 
dangerous  grass  tracks,  where  nothing  would  be  easier 
than  to  make  a  slip,  and  where  a  bad  slip  might  have 
unpleasant  results.  This  is,  however,  just  the  kind  of 


6  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

place  where  every  one  is  particularly  careful  not  to  slip. 
We  were  careful  and  so  reached  the  chalets  all  right, 
and  there  we  found  a  strong,  intelligent  boy,  who  at  once 
pointed  out  the  place  where  the  glaciere  was,  about 
half  way  up  the  slope  we  had  just  come  down.  So  we 
took  him  with  us,  leaving  our  guide  at  the  chalets  to 
await  our  return. 

The  entrance  to  the  glaciere  was  in  a  wall  of  rock, 
set  at  an  angle  of  some  thirty-five  degrees ;  at  the  bot- 
tom of  this  there  was  some  grass.  An  easy  chimney  some 
fifteen  meters  high  led  up  to  the  glaciere.  Up  this  chim- 
ney we  climbed.  At  the  top  we  entered  a  little  cave 
about  two  meters  deep,  by  a  sort  of  portal  about  two 
meters  wide.  The  cave  made  an  elbow  to  the  right,  and 
passing  this  we  found  that  it  turned  to  the  left  and 
pointed  directly  into  the  mountain.  The  rock  went  down 
vertically  in  front  of  us,  but  the  boy  said  we  could  get 
down,  so  having  first  lowered  a  candle  by  a  string  to 
see  the  depth,  which  turned  out  to  be  a  perpendicular 
drop  of  some  four  or  five  meters,  with  the  help  of  the 
rop^  we  all  climbed  down.  We  were  already  almost 
entirely  away  from  the  daylight  and  a  few  steps  took  us 
into  complete  darkness,  except  for  the  light  we  had  from 
the  candle  each  of  us  held  in  his  hand. 

The  fissure  led  straight  into  the  mountain.  It  was  a 
couple  of  meters  wide  at  places,  and  there  we  moved 
along  the  bottom.  In  one  place  it  narrowed  below  to  a 
wedge,  and  there  we  progressed  either  by  climbing  along 
one  side  or  by  placing  one  foot  on  one  side  and  the 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  7 

other  foot  on  the  other.  The  fissure  led  downwards  as 
well  as  inwards.  It  would  have  been  nothing  in  daylight 
to  go  through  it ;  but  in  the  semi-darkness  it  was  not 
easy. 

After  a  descent  of  some  twenty-five  meters  or  there- 
abouts, we  arrived  at  the  glaciere,  and  I  have  certainly 
never  seen  a  weirder  place.  There  was  a  great  arched 
rock  dome,  perhaps  six  meters  in  height,  and  some  twelve 
in  diameter ;  the  floor  was  a  sheet  of  smooth,  slippery  ice, 
at  one  end  curling  over,  gently  at  first,  afterwards  more 
steeply,  to  a  lower  depth  ;  and  on  the  sides  were  seven 
or  eight  ice  columns  streaming  from  cracks  in  the  rocks 
to  the  floor.  Each  of  these  columns  was  some  three  or 
four  meters  high,  and,  small  at  the  top  and  in  the  mid- 
dle, spread  out  at  the  base  into  the  shape  of  fans.  In 
the  dim  candle  light  and  the  cold  damp  atmosphere,  the 
columns  loomed  up  like  so  many  ghosts,  and  the  land- 
scape impression  was  strange  and  solemn.  The  air  here 
seemed  perfectly  still. 

There  was  another  curiosity.  The  fissure  we  had 
come  down,  at  this  point  some  three  meters  wide,  was 
filled,  just  beyond  the  glaciere,  with  pure,  transparent 
water,  which  formed  a  little  lake:  this  was  perhaps 
one  meter  deep,  and  extended  across  the  fissure,  barring 
further  progress.  It  certainly  seems  strange  that  in  the 
same  cavern,  under  nearly  the  same  conditions  of  temper- 
ature, there  should  be  one  place  covered  with  a  flooring  of 
ice  and  another  filled  with  water.  The  explanation,  how- 
ever, is  perhaps  not  far  to  seek.  Over  the  lake  there 


8  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

was  a  distinct  draught  of  air.  The  draught  probably 
melts  the  ice  in  summer,  if  indeed  it  does  not  prevent 
any  from  forming  in  winter.  There  are,  so  far,  no  winter 
observations  reported  of  this  cave,  yet  it  would  seem  to 
be  one  which  would  well  repay  the  trouble. 

THE   GLACIERE   DE    CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT. 

On  the  i  yth  of  August,  1894,  my  brother  and  I  arrived 
at  Besan^on,  the  Vesontio  of  the  Romans,  bent  on  see- 
ing the  Glaciere  de  Chaux-les-Passavant  or  de  la  Gra.ce- 
Dieu,  which  is  not  far  distant  from  the  town.  The 
hotel  we  stopped  at  was  pretty  bad  ;  the  beds  were  sur- 
mounted with  those  old-fashioned  curtains  which  were  of 
use  before  the  invention  of  glass  windows,  but  which  now 
only  serve  to  exclude  air  and  ventilation.  However,  I 
learnt  something  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  coun- 
try, for  on  getting  down  at  six  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing for  breakfast,  the  first  question  the  waiter  asked 
was:  Quel  vin  monsieur  prendra-t-il?  At  seven  o'clock 
we  sallied  forth  in  a  little  open  one-horse  victoria,  with  a 
dull  gray  sky  overhead.  Besan^on  is  well  down  in  a 
valley,  so  the  first  five  miles  of  the  road  were  a  slow, 
gradual  rise  to  the  surrounding  levels.  The  scenery 
as  we  drove  along  reminded  us  of  Turner's  pictures : 
distant  vistas  of  hills  and  valleys  with  factories  blow- 
ing off  their  smoke  and  with  tumble-down  old  houses 
ensconced  in  picturesque  nooks,  just  those  long-distance 
effects  that  Turner  loved  to  paint  and  which,  for  some 
reason,  the  artists  of  the  present  generation  have  generally 


GLACIERE   DE   CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT. 

From  a  Photograph  by  E.  Mauvillier. 


EXPERIENCES   IN    GLACIERES.  9 

neglected  and  usually  speak  of  as  unpaintable  or  unpictur- 
esque.  There  was  a  row  of  trees,  the  whole  way,  on  each 
side  of  the  road,  a  bit  of  practical  forestry,  the  wisdom  of 
which  it  would  be  well  for  Americans  to  recognize. 
After  our  poor  horse  had  pulled  us  up  the  long  hills,  we 
had  an  almost  level  road  running  in  a  straight  line  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  see.  We  saw  at  least  a  hundred  little 
hawks,  who  live  on  field  mice  and  other  rodents,  and 
whose  preservation  is  another  evidence  of  French  wisdom. 
The  last  four  miles  of  the  drive  was  up  a  ravine  in  the 
woods,  near  the  beginning  of  which  we  passed  the  Trap- 
pist  convent  of  la  Grace-Dieu. 

Opposite  the  entrance  of  the  glaciere,  there  is  a  little 
restaurant  where  the  peasants  come  to  dance  and  picnic, 
and  where  the  few  travellers  who  get  to  these  parts,  can 
obtain  a  tolerable  dejeuner.  They  keep  a  fair  vin  du  pays 
there,  and  we  had  some  trouble  on  the  way  home  in  con- 
sequence. Our  driver,  a  talkative  specimen  of  the  genus 
and  an  old  soldier  of  Bourbaki's,  told  us,  on  the  way  out, 
many  things  about  Besancon  during  the  Franco-German 
war  and  of  the  retreat  of  the  French  army  into  Switz- 
erland ;  but  on  the  way  home,  he  showed  that  he  evi- 
dently was  not  a  member  of  the  blue  ribbon  army. 
He  first  seemed  desirous  of  not  taking  us  back  to  Besan- 
con, preferring  to  go  in  the  other  direction  towards  Bale  ; 
and  afterwards  he  evinced  a  violent  inclination  to  go  to 
sleep.  We  thought  we  should  have  to  request  him  to 
change  seats  with  us,  and  drive  back  ourselves,  but  we 
obviated  the  difficulty  by  plying  him  with  questions  as 


io  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

soon  as  he  began  to  nod  on  his  box.  Eventually,  we 
reached  Besanc,on  all  right,  only  once  bumping  a  passing 
cart,  and  only  once  nearly  capsizing  into  a  ditch.  If 
Americans  can  learn  some  points  from  Europeans  about 
forestry,  I  think  the  latter  might  get  some  equally  valu- 
able information  from  us  concerning  the  use  of  water, 
externally  and  internally. 

The  good  lady  at  the  restaurant  acts  the  part  of  the 
old-fashioned  cave  dragon,  and  we  had  to  appease  her  by 
handing  over  four  sous  as  a  preliminary  to  exploration. 
She  also  had  a  sign  up,  saying  that  no  one  is  allowed  to 
break  off  or  take  away  any  ice,  which  must  sadly  interfere 
with  the  tourists'  privilege  of  bringing  away  specimens. 

The  entrance  of  the  glaciere  was  surrounded  by 
woods,  which  formed  a  natural  rampart  to  anything  like 
wind.  As  we  stood  facing  the  glaciere  a  great  pit  opened 
before  us,  with  a  slope  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
meters  long  leading  to  the  bottom.  This  slope  is  at  first 
gentle  in  its  gradient,  but  lower  down  it  steepens  to  an 
angle  of  some  thirty  degrees  so  that  we  were  glad  to 
resort  to  the  trail  which  descends  in  regular  Alpine  zig- 
zags. In  one  place,  on  the  right  hand,  there  were  the 
remains  of  a  stone  wall  with  a  door,  and  local  tradition 
relates  that  in  former  times  there  was  a  sort  of  fortified 
habitation  there,  which  was  used  in  war  times  as  a  place 
of  retreat.  The  lower  part  of  the  slope  is  covered  by  a 
protecting  roof  of  rock  which,  thin  at  the  rim  where  it  is 
edged  with  forest,  gradually  slopes  downward  overhead 
so  that  at  the  mouth  of  the  glaciere  we  looked  back  and 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES. 


It 


up  what  might  be  described  as  an  immense  tunnel.  The 
lower  part  of  the  slope  was  a  mixture  of  broken  rocks, 
mud  and  ice :  the  last,  however,  seemed  to  be  all  on 
the  surface,  although  it  was  impossible  to  determine 
whether  it  went  to  any  depth. 

At  the  base  of  the  tunnel  we  found  ourselves  on  the 
threshold  of  an  immense,  almost  circular  cave,  with  a 
diameter  of  some  fifty  meters,  rising  overhead  into  a  reg- 
ular vault  or  dome  about  twenty-seven  meters  in  height. 
The  entrance  to  the  cave  is  so  large  that  plenty  of  day- 


FIG.  i.  2  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT. 

light  is  admitted,  and  the  whole  cave  easily  examined. 
The  rocks  are  of  a  yellowish  brown  hue,  and  I  could 
not  help  thinking  of  Nibelheim  in  Richard  Wagner's 
Rheingold. 

The  bottom  of  the  cave  was  entirely  covered  with  a 
flooring  of  ice.  How  thick  this  flooring  was  there  was 
no  means  of  judging,  as  there  were  no  holes,  but  it  must 

2  The  figures   in  this  book  are  rough  sketches,  without   pretense 
at  accuracy  of  measurement,  and  are  only  explanatory  of  the  text. 


12  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

have  been  at  least  two  or  three  meters  thick  in  places. 
At  the  back  of  the  cavern,  directly  facing  the  entrance, 
one  magnificent  frozen  water  fall  streamed  from  a  fis- 
sure. It  was  perhaps  five  meters  high,  and  began 
to  take  the  fan  shape  from  its  origin.  The  base  was 
about  four  meters  wide,  and  did  not  rest  on  the  ice 
floor,  but  on  a  sloping  rock  extending  out  from  the 
side  of  the  cave. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  all,  were  six 
or  seven  great  ice  stalagmites,  shaped  like  cones  or  rough 
pyramids,  which  rose  on  the  floor  of  the  cave.  One  of 
these  was  at  least  five  meters  in  diameter  and  six  in 
height,  and  seemed  perfectly  solid.  In  the  case  of  two  of 
the  others,  however,  the  cones  were  broken  on  one  side, 
revealing  in  each  the  stem  and  branches  of  a  young  pine 
tree.  These  evidently  had  been  planted  in  the  ice  and 
round  them  the  columns  had  grown.  Whether  all  the 
ice  cones  were  thus  artificial  in  their  origin  I  could  not 
determine,  but  it  seemed  probable  that  they  were  the 
result  of  years  of  undisturbed  accretion  and  growth.  In 
both  the  cones  where  the  break  on  the  side  gave  a 
view  into  the  interior,  the  dark  blue-green  color  of  deep 
glacier  crevasses  was  present. 

A  pool  of  water,  perhaps  thirty  centimeters  in  depth 
and  three  or  four  meters  in  diameter,  lay  at  one  place 
on  the  ice  floor.  The  whole  cave  was  damp  and  the 
ice  in  places  decidedly  slushy,  in  fact  all  the  signs  showed 
that  it  was  thawing.  In  the  case  of  this  glaciere  as  well 
as  in  those  of  the  Mont  Parmelan,  it  seemed  clear  that 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  13 

it  must  be  in  the  winter  months  that   the   formation  of 
ice  takes  place. 

DOBSINA  JEGBARLANG. 

The  cavern  of  Dobsina,  in  the  Carpathian  Mountains, 
is  easily  reached  either  from  Poprad  to  the  north,  or 
from  Dobsina  to  the  south.  The  hotel  at  Poprad  is  bet- 
ter, however,  than  the  inn  at  Dobsina,  where  my  brother 
and  I  spent  two  nights.  It  was  decidedly  primitive.  The 
food  was  not  so  bad,  but  the  pigs  ran  round  in  the  court- 
yard, and  one  morning  a  gypsy  band  woke  us  at  half-past 
three  o'clock  by  playing  in  front  of  our  windows,  in  dread- 
ful wailing  tones,  which  were  most  irritating  at  that  hour. 
At  the  proper  time,  however,  Hungarian  gypsy  music, — 
despite  the  fact  that  none  of  the  players  ever  seem  to 
look  at  the  leader,  and  that  each  man  appears  to  play  the 
tune  he  likes  the  best, — is  strangely  fascinating. 

Dobsina  itself  lies  in  a  hollow,  surrounded  with  well- 
wooded  hills,  the  general  appearance  much  resembling 
some  of  the  valleys  of  the  White  Mountains  of  New 
Hampshire.  My  brother  and  I  started  from  Dobsina 
on  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  July,  1895,  at  half-past 
seven  o'clock,  in  a  little  open  carriage  with  excellent 
horses  and  a  Hungarian  driver  in  national  costume.  He 
was  a  nice  fellow,  but  he  did  not  understand  a  word  of 
German.  The  road  reminded  us  of  some  of  our  own 
mountain  roads,  as  it  was  rough,  full  of  holes  and  partly 
washed  away  by  the  rains.  We  first  ascended  to  the 
crest  of  the  surrounding  hills  and  then  descended  to  the 


14  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Stracena  Thai,  a  wild  limestone  valley  covered  with  fine 
forest.  Two  hours  and  a  half  driving  landed  us  at  the 
hotel- restaurant  near  the  cave,  at  which  I  should  certainly 
stop  on  another  visit.  It  was  half  an  hour's  stroll  thence, 
through  beautiful  woods,  to  the  cavern's  entrance.  North- 
wards in  the  distance  the  Tatra  Range  was  visible,  a  set 
of  sharp  bare  rock  peaks,  at  whose  base,  ensconced 
in  pine  forests,  is  situated  the  famous  Hungarian  sum- 
mer resort  of  Tatra  Fiired,  which  much  resembles  Bar 
Harbor. 

The  entrance  to  the  cavern  is  enclosed  by  a  fence  with 
a  gate,  and  here  the  Dobsina  people  have  a  high  tariff 
and  take  toll  from  tourists.  At  the  gate,  we  waited  for 
half  an  hour,  until  a  sufficient  number  of  persons  had 
arrived  to  form  a  party.  This  mode  of  visiting  the  cave 
rather  detracts  from  the  pleasure,  even  though  it  does 
away  with  all  difficulty  and  makes  the  beauties  of  Dobsina 
accessible  to  everyone.  It  was  also  necessary  to  wait  long 
enough  to  cool  off  thoroughly  before  entering,  on  account 
of  the  icy  air  of  the  cavern,  where  heavy  winter  clothes 
are  indispensable. 

The  entrance  to  Dobsina  faces  nearly  due  north.  It 
is  small,  perhaps  two  meters  wide  and  three  meters  high, 
and  is  perfectly  sheltered  from  any  wind.  The  sudden 
drop  in  temperature  at  the  entrance  was  startling ;  in  fact 
it  was  the  most  extreme  change  I  have  noticed  in  any  cave. 
Within  the  length  of  an  ordinary  room,  say  in  a  distance 
of  five  meters,  we  passed  from  an  extremely  hot  summer 
morning  to  the  chill  of  a  mid-winter  afternoon.  A  slight 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  15 

air  current,  perhaps,  issued  from  the  entrance,  as  we 
observed  a  faint  mist  there.  At  the  rock  portal  there 
was  ice  on  the  rocks  overhead,  and  underfoot  was  the 
beginning  of  the  huge  mass  of  ice  which  almost  fills  the 
cavern.  A  descent  down  eighteen  wooden  steps  landed 
us  at  the  beginning  of  a  great  ice  floor,  in  what  is  called 
the  Grosser  Saal.  It  is  a  magnificent  cave.  The  floor  is 
a  sheet  or  rather  a  mass  of  solid  ice,  the  surface  of  which 
is  level  enough  in  one  place  to  permit  of  skating ;  in  other 


FIG.  2.    VERTICAL  SECTION  OK  DOBSINA. 


spots  it  is  sloping  and  covered  with  small  ice  hillocks. 
The  ice  is  solid  throughout,  without  any  holes  or  cracks. 
Several  fissure  columns  stream  to  the  floor  from  cracks  in 
the  sides.  Joining  the  roof  to  the  floor  are  numerous  big 
ice  stalactites,  which  form  frozen  pillars  and  columns. 
These  are  from  eight  to  eleven  meters  in  height,  and  some 
two  to  three  meters  in  average  breadth  and  width.  Nearly 
translucent,  they  are  covered  with  all  sorts  of  icy  orna- 
ments hanging  about  them  in  tufts  and  fringes  ;  they  are 


1 6  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

beautiful  in  their  shapes,  as  well  as  in  their  white  and 
blue  colors.  One  of  these  columns  is  called  the  Brunnen, 
because  until  about  ten  years  ago,  a  small  stream  dribbled 
continuously  from  the  roof  and  cut  a  channel  across  the 
ice  floor ;  but  now  the  stream  has  solidified  into  the  pillar, 
and  the  channel  is  filled  up,  although  it  can  still  be  traced 
iri  the  ice. 

The  cavern  is  lighted  by  electricity,  which  has  the 
merit,  even  if  it  brings  in  an  element  of  artificial- 
ity, of  clearly  revealing  one  of  the  chief  glories  oi 
Dobsina.  This  is  the  rime  or  hoar  frost,  which  in  the 
shape  of  ice  or  snow  crystals,  covers  the  entire  limestone 
roof,  and,  reflecting  the  electric  light,  shines  like  frosted 
silver.  Some  of  these  frost  crystals  seem  to  be  precipi- 
tated to  the  floor,  and  in  one  place  I  found  a  small 
sheet  of  them,  perhaps  two  meters  in  width  each  way, 
which  looked  and  felt  like  genuine  snow.  The  general 
color  effect  of  all  this  upper  cave  is  white,  although  there 
is  some  blue  in  the  ice,  and  gray  and  brown  in  the  rocks 
and  shadows.  It  would  not  be  much  of  a  misnomer 
to  call  Dobsina  "the  great  white  cave." 

The  ice  extended  to  the  sides  of  the  cave  except  in 
two  places.  Here  there  were  holes  in  the  ice,  bridged  by 
low  rock  arches.  We  passed  through  one  of  these  and 
descended  by  a  wooden  staircase  some  eighty  steps,  after- 
wards returning  up  through  the  other  arch  by  another 
staircase.  At  the  bottom  we  stood  in  a  magnificent 
gallery  named  the  Korridor,  formed  by  a  solid  wall  of  ice 
on  one  side  and  by  a  wall  of  limestone  rock  on  the  other. 


THE  LOWER   ROSITTEN   ALP  AND  THE  UNTERSBERG. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  1 7 

The  ice  wall  is  the  lower  portion  of  the  ice  floor ;  the  rock 
wall  is  the  continuation  of  the  roof.  For  the  entire  dis- 
tance the  ice  wall  rises  almost  perpendicularly  some 
fifteen  meters  in  height,  while  the  rock  wall  arches  over- 
head. 

The  bottom  of  the  Korridor  was  filled  with  blocks  of 
fallen  limestone,  through  which  any  water  drains  off,  and 
on  which  there  was  a  wooden  walk,  so  that  we  circled 
round  the  ice  with  the  greatest  ease.  At  one  place  on  the 
limestone  wall  hung  a  cluster  of  big  icicles,  which,  from 
their  shape  really  deserved  the  name  they  bear,  of  the 
Orgel.  At  another  place  a  hole,  some  six  or  seven  meters 
deep,  was  hewn,  in  the  form  of  a  small  chamber,  directly 
into  the  ice  mass.  This  is  the  Kapelle,  where  we  per- 
formed our  devotions  by  leaving  our  visiting  cards  on  the 
floor.  Near  the  middle  of  the  Korridor  the  ice  mass 
bulges  out  and  extends  to  the  limestone  wall,  breaking  the 
whole  Korridor  into  two  parts,  the  western  portion  about 
eighty  meters,  and  the  eastern  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  meters  long.  This  necessitated  cutting  a  tunnel 
about  eight  meters  long  in  the  ice  to  get  through.  The 
color  of  the  Korridor  is  a  darkish  gray  and  is  much  more 
sombre  than,  that  of  the  Grosser  Saal.  A  remarkable 
feature  of  the  ice  wall  is  the  fact  that  distinct  bands  of 
stratification  are  visible  in  the  ice  in  many  places.  Why 
the  Korridor  is  not  filled  up  with  ice  and  why  the  ice 
is  perpendicular  for  such  a  distance  are  questions  I  am 
unable  to  answer  satisfactorily;  but  it  is  probable  that 
the  temperature  of  the  rock  walls  is  sufficiently  high  to 


1 8  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

prevent   ice   from   forming   in    winter    or   to    melt    it    in 
summer  if  it  does  form  in  winter. 

The  air  in  Dobsina  seemed  still,  and  scarcely  felt  damp. 
In  one  or  two  places  in  the  Grosser  Saal  there  was  a 
slight  sloppiness,  showing  incipient  signs  of  thaw.  In 
the  Korridor  it  was  freezing  hard. 

THE  KOLOWRATSH6HLE. 

The  Kolowratshohle  is  situated  on  the  north  slope  of 
the  Untersberg,  near  Salzburg,  at  an  altitude  of  1391 
meters.  My  brother  and  I  visited  it  on  the  2d  of  August, 
1895.  We  had  one  of  the  patented  guides  of  the  district, 
Jacob  Gruber  by  name,  in  regular  Tyrolese  dress,  with 
gray  jacke  and  black  chamois  knee  breeches.  We  left 
Salzburg  in  the  early  morning  in  an  einsp'dnner  and  drove 
to  the  foot  of  the  Untersberg  in  about  an  hour,  whence, 
by  a  rough  path  passing  by  the  Rositten  Alp,  we  ascended 
to  the  cave  in  about  three  hours.  The  last  hundred  and 
sixteen  meters  of  the  path  were  cut  across  some  mod- 
erately steep  rock  slabs  and  a  perfectly  unnecessary  iron 
hand-railing  affixed. 

The  entrance  faces  northeast.  Here  there  must  have 
been  a  slight  draught  of  cold  air  moving  outwards,  the 
effect  of  which  was  perceptible  to  the  eye,  as  at  the  point 
where  the  cold  inside  air  met  the  quiet  warm  outside  air. 
a  faint  mist  was  visible.  From  the  entrance,  a  sharp  slope, 
set  at  an  angle  of  about  forty  degrees,  led  to  the  lowest 
point  of  the  cave.  The  upper  half  of  this  slope  was  still 
covered  with  the  winter  snow  which  had  blown  or  had 


ffp 

OF  TS« 

UNIVERSITY 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  19 

slid  in.  We  descended  on  the  right  hand  edge  of  the 
snow  by  means  of  some  steps  cut  in  the  rock  by  the 
Deutschen-Oesterreichischen  Alpen  Club.  These  steps 
were  covered  with  a  sticky,  red  mud,  which  left  almost 
ineradicable  stains  on  our  clothing,  and  as  there  was  also 
ice  in  places,  they  were  decidedly  slippery. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  slope  we  were  at  the  lowest 
point  of  the   cave,  to  which   all   the   water  flowed,  and 


FIG.  3.  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  KOLOWRATSHOHLE. 

where  it  drained  off  into  a  crack  with  a  loud  gurgling 
noise.  Back  of  us  was  the  daylight  streaming  through 
the  entrance ;  opposite  to  us  was  first  an  ice  floor, 
then  a  great  ice  slope,  which  came  down  from  the  further 
end  of  the  cave.  The  ice  was  transparent  and  of  a  pale 
ochre-greenish  hue,  and  filled  the  entire  width  of  the  cave. 
There  is  a  streak  of  iron,  probably,  through  the  lime- 
stone, which  in  places  tints  the  rocks  a  dull  red.  The 
color  impression  is  a  dull  green-red,  and,  on  account 


2O  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

of  the  size  of  the  entrance,  the  light  effect  is  only  semi- 
subterranean. 

The  ice  floor  was  covered  with  a  layer  of  slabs  of 
ice,  eight  or  ten  centimeters  thick,  which,  earlier  in  the 
year,  had  evidently  had  water  under  them.  The  ice 
wall  or  ice  slope  consisted  of  two  big  waves,  one  above 
the  other,  the  lower  set  at  an  angle  of  about  ten 
degrees,  the  upper  set  at  an  angle  of  about  twenty-five 
degrees.  To  get  up  the  upper  wave  required  about 
twelve  steps  cut  with  the  axe.  Behind  the  upper  wavej 
five  or  six  fissure  columns  streamed  out  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  ice.  One  ice  stalactite,  at  least  two  or 
three  meters  long,  overhung  the  ice  floor,  and  Gruber 
said  about  this :  "  Well,  I  wonder  it  has  not  fallen  yet : 
they  seldom  last  as  late  in  the  year,"  a  confirmation  of 
what  was  clearly  evident,  namely,  that  the  whole  cave 
was  in  a  state  of  thaw. 

In  two  places  there  was  a  strong,  continuous  drip 
from  the  roof  to  the  ice  floor,  which  formed,  in  each 
case,  what  I  can  only  call  an  ice  basin.  These  basins 
were  nearly  circular;  one  was  about  four  meters,  the 
other  about  two,  in  diameter.  Around  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  rim  of  the  larger  one,  ice  rose  in  a  sur- 
rounding ring  two  or  three  meters  high,  suggesting  that 
earlier  in  the  year  this  basin  was  a  cone,  and  possibly 
a  hollow  cone.  The  depth  in  the  ice  floor,  in  both  cases, 
was  about  one  and  a  half  meters,  and  each  basin 
contained  some  thirty  centimeters  in  depth  of  water. 
They  reminded  me  of  the  rock  basins  one  sees  in 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  21 

mountain  torrents,  where  an  eddying  current  has  worn 
smooth  all  the  edges  of  the  rocks.  From  the  larger  of 
these  basins,  a  channel  as  deep  as  the  basin  ran  to  the 
lowest  point  of  the  cave.  This  channel  was  cut  out  by 
the  overflow,  which  ran  through  it  in  a  tiny  stream.3 

THE    SCHAFLOCH. 

The  Schafloch,  on  the  Rothhorn,  near  the  Lake  of 
Thoune,  is  one  of  the  biggest  glacieres  in  the  Alps. 
On  the  1 5th  of  August,  1895,  after  early  coffee,  made 
by  the  portier  of  the  Hotel  Belvedere  at  Interlaken,  I 
drove  to  Merligen,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  lake,  with 
Emil  Von  Allmen,  an  excellent  guide.  We  left  Merligen 
on  foot  at  a  quarter  before  seven,  and,  making  no  stops 
on  the  way,  reached  the  Schafloch  at  ten  minutes  past 
ten.  The  path  mounts  gently  up  the  Wuste  Thai,  which 
higher  up  is  called  the  Justiz  Thai.  The  track  through 
the  latter  is  almost  on  a  level,  over  grassy  alps.  On  the 
right  hand  rise  the  steep,  almost  dolomitic,  limestone  cliffs 
of  the  Beatenberg.  On  the  left  is  the  range  of  the 
Rothhorn,  with  steep  grass  and  forest  slopes  below,  and 

3  The  photographs  of  the  Rositten  Alp,  of  the  entrance  of  the  Kolo- 
wratshohle,  and  of  the  interior  of  the  Kolowratshohle,  were  made  for 
me  on  the  i6th  of  July,  1896,  by  Herr  Carl  Hintner,  Jr.,  of  Salzburg. 
The  two  latter  photographs  are,  I  believe,  the  first  good  ones  ever 
obtained  of  the  inside  of  the  cave.  They  were  taken  without  artificial 
light  on  quick  plates  ;  the  best  of  the  two  received  an  hour  and  a  half, 
the  other  two  hours'  exposure.  The  photographer  said  at  first  that 
it  was  not  possible  to  succeed,  and  it  was  only  by  promising  to  pay 
him  in  any  case,  that  he  could  be  induced  to  try. 


22  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

limestone  cliffs  above.  The  last  hour  of  the  walk  was 
up  these  slopes,  by  what  Baedeker  calls  a  "  giddy  path." 
By  leaving  the  word  "giddy"  out,  his  description  is  ac- 
curate. The  cavern  is  at  the  base  of  the  limestone  cliff, 
and  the  grass  slope  extends  up  to  it. 

The  entrance  to  the  Schafloch  is  at  an  altitude  of  1752 
meters  :  it  is  a  fine  archway,  and  a  low  wall  is  built  partly 
across  it.  In  front  of  this,  we  sat  down  and  consumed  our 
chicken  and  cheese,  and  that  best  of  a  traveller's  drinks, 
cold  tea.  The  day  was  windless,  and  when  I  lighted  a 
cigar,  to  see  whether  there  was  any  draught  at  the  en- 
trance, the  smoke  rose  straight  up,  showing  that  the  air 
was  perfectly  still.  When  we  were  sufficiently  cooled 
off,  we  entered  the  cave.  The  entrance  faces  east-south- 
east, but  after  about  ten  meters  the  cavern  takes  a  sharp 
turn  to  the  left,  forming  a  sort  of  elbow,  and  runs  about 
due  south,  constantly  descending  in  an  almost  straight 
line.  For  the  first  eighty  meters  or  so,  the  floor  was 
covered  with  blocks  of  fallen  limestone,  among  which  we 
had  to  carefully  pick  our  way.  Then  we  began  to  find  ice, 
which,  a  few  meters  further  on,  spread  out  across  the 
entire  width  of  the  cave,  with  a  gentle  slope  towards  the 
left.  The  surface  of  the  ice  was  rather  soft,  and  the  whole 
cave  was  evidently  in  a  state  of  thaw.  A  few  scratches 
with  the  axe — the  most  invaluable  friend  in  an  ice  cave — 
were  necessary  at  one  place  to  improve  our  footing.  It 
would  have  been  impossible  to  move  here  without  a  light, 
and  I  carried  our  torch,  made  of  rope  dipped  in  pitch,  which 
occasionally  dropped  black  reminders  on  my  clothes.  We 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  23 

were  in  the  middle  of  a  great  ice  sheet  to  which  several 
fissure  columns  streamed.  On  the  right  hand  a  beautiful 
ice  stalactite  flowed  from  the  roof  to  the  floor;  it  was 
some  five  meters  high,  and  perhaps  seventy-five  centi- 
meters in  diameter,  and  swelled  out  slightly  at  the  base. 
On  the  left  hand  were  three  or  four  ice  stalagmites,  shaped 
like  pyramids  or  cones. 

One  of  these  cones  was  especially  remarkable.  It  was 
at  least  five  meters  high — Von  Allmen  said  eight — and 
at  the  bottom  was  about  four  meters  in  diameter.  The 
base  of  this  cone  was  entirely  hollow.  There  was  a  break 
on  one  side  by  which  we  could  enter,  and  we  then  stood  on 
a  rock  floor  with  a  small  ice  dome  or  vault  overhead.  I 
have  seen  no  other  hollow  cone  like  this.  The  guide 
lighted  a  red  Bengal  fire  inside,  when  the  whole  pyramid 
glowed  with  a  delicate  pink  light,  resembling  Alpengluhn. 
Near  this  cone  stood  the  half  of  another  ice  cone.  It  was 
quite  perfect,  and  the  missing  half  was  cut  off  perpendic- 
ularly, as  if  with  a  huge  cleaver.  A  hollow  in  the  base  of 
the  remnant  showed  that  this  cone  must  have  been  origi- 
nally also  a  hollow  cone,  and  its  destruction  was  probably 
due  to  the  change  in  the  temperature  of  the  drip  from 
the  roof,  at  the  setting  in  of  the  summer  thaw. 

Just  beyond  the  cones,  the  ice  floor  steepens  and  curls 
over  into  a  big  ice  slope,  one  of  the  finest  I  have  seen. 
Von  Allmen  spoke  of  this  as  der  gletscher,  an  expres- 
sion I  never  heard  applied  elsewhere  to  subterranean 
ice.  On  the  right  side,  the  slope  would  be  difficult  to 
descend  in  the  darkness.  On  the  left,  the  slope  is  gentle 


24  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  a  rock  juts  out  a  little  way  down.  Von  Allmen 
insisted  on  roping — an  unnecessary  safeguard — but  he 
said:  "If  you  slip,  you  will  probably  break  an  arm  or 
a  leg,  and  then  we  shall  be  in  a  nice  mess."  He  then 
cut  about  twelve  steps  in  the  ice,  down  to  the  rock,  while 
I  shed  light  on  the  performance  with  our  torch.  We 
were  so  completely  away  from  daylight  that  black  was 
the  predominating  color ;  and  even  the  ice  was  a  dark 
gray,  and  only  appeared  white  in  the  high  lights.  Be- 
low the  rock,  we  found  a  narrow  strip  on  the  left  side 
of  the  ice  slope  free  from  ice  and  blocked  with  boul- 
ders, over  which  we  carefully  picked  our  way  down.  At 
the  bottom,  the  ice  expanded  into  a  level  surface,  stretch- 
ing nearly  to  the  end  of  the  cave.  There  were  only  a 
few  fissure  columns  in  this  part  of  the  cavern,  where  the 
most  remarkable  feature  was  the  cracks  in  the  rock 
walls,  which  were  so  regular  in  formation  that  they 
almost  looked  like  man's  handiwork.  The  rocks  are 
free  from  stalactites,  and  in  fact  stalactites  seem  a  good 
deal  of  a  rarity  in  glacieres. 

On  retracing  our  steps,  we  saw,  when  the  first  glim- 
mers of  daylight  became  perceptible,  the  rocks  assume  a 
brilliant  blue  color,  as  if  they  were  flooded  with  moon- 
light. This  effect  lasted  until  near  the  mouth  of  the 

cavern. 

D£M£NYFALVA  JEGBARLANG. 

A  little  west  of  Poprad,  in  Northern  Hungary,  on 
the  railroad  between  Sillein  and  Kassa,  is  the  village  of 
Liptos  Szt  Miklos,  to  which  place  I  journeyed  on  the 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  25 

1 2th  of  June,  1896.  The  conductor  was  the  only  man 
on  the  train  or  at  any  of  the  stations  who  would  admit 
that  there  was  a  glaciere  at  Demenyfalva,  and  that  it 
was  feasible  to  get  into  it :  every  one  else  professed 
entire  ignorance  on  the  subject.  It  is  perhaps,  worth 
noting  at  this  time  that  it  is  always  difficult  to  get  any 
information  about  glacieres ;  in  fact,  the  advice  about 
cooking  a  hare  might  well  be  applied  to  glaciere  hunt- 
ing: first  catch  your  glaciere. 

The  scenery  between  Sillein  and  Miklos  was  pictur- 
esque. The  hills  were  covered  with  forest.  In  one  place, 
the  railroad  ran  through  a  beautiful  mountain  gorge  . 
alongside  a  river,  where  a  number  of  rafts  were  floating 
down.  There  were  also  some  primitive  ferries,  where  a 
rope  was  stretched  across  the  river,  and  the  force  of  the 
current  carried  the  ferryboat  across,  once  it  was  started. 
Many  peasants  were  at  work  in  the  fields ;  often  in 
squads.  White,  blue,  brown,  and  a  dash  of  red  were 
the  predominating  colors  in  their  dress.  The  men  wore 
white  trousers,  made  of  a  kind  of  blanket  stuff,  and  a 
leather,  heelless  moccasin  of  nearly  natural  shape.  Almost 
all  the  women  had  bare  feet ;  those  of  the  older  ones  were 
generally  shaped  according  to  Nature's  own  form,  while 
those  of  the  younger  ones  were  generally  distorted  from 
wearing  fashionable  shoes.  We  went  past  several  villages 
of  huts  with  thatched  roofs,  something  like  the  Russian 
villages  one  sees  beyond  Moscow,  only  less  primitive. 

The  inn  at  Miklos  was  poor,  and  as  at  Dobsina,  the 
pigs   lived   in   the   yard   and    occasionally    came    for    an 


26  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

interview  under  the  covered  doorway.  Inquiries  elicited 
the  information  that  Demenyfalva  could  be  reached  by 
carriage,  so  I  engaged  one  at  the  livery  stable.  The 
owner  told  me  that  about  twenty  years  before,  he  leased 
the  glaciere  and  carried  on  a  regular  business  in  sup- 
plying Buda-Pest  with  ice.  He  had  thirty  lamps  put  in 
to  give  light  to  the  workmen,  who  brought  up  the  ice  in 
baskets  on  their  backs. 

At  half  past  five  o'clock  next  morning  the  carriage, 
which  was  innocent  of  paint,  lined  with  a  sort  of  basket 
work  and  without  springs,  but  certainly  strongly  built, 
stood  at  the  door.  A  boy  of  about  eighteen  years  of 
age,  who  could  speak  German,  went  along  as  interpreter. 
The  morning  was  dismal,  and,  every  quarter  of  an  hour 
or  so,  a  shower  of  thick  mist  fell  and  gradually  made 
us  damp  and  uncomfortable.  After  about  twenty  min- 
utes on  a  pretty  bad  road,  we  came  to  a  place  where 
there  was  a  fork,  and  the  driver  turned  to  the  left,  over 
a  track  which  consisted  of  two  deep  ruts  through  the 
fields.  Soon  after,  we  heard  some  shouting  behind  us, 
and  a  fierce-looking  man,  in  a  leather  jacket  and  carry- 
ing a  large  axe,  came  up  and  abused  the  driver.  He 
was  not  an  agreeable  person ;  however,  presently  he 
simmered  down  and  began  to  smile.  It  turned  out  that 
he  was  a  wackier,  that  is,  a  guardian  of  the  fields,  and 
that  we  were  trespassing.  The  driver  meekly  promised 
to  return  by  the  other  route,  and  we  went  on  our  way 
in  peace.  After  awhile,  we  drove  into  some  woods  and 
then  into  a  mountain  gorge,  with  forest-covered  slopes 


. 


,,  Of  THS 

UNIVERSITY 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  27 

at  the  base  and  with  limestone  cliffs  jutting  out  above. 
Here  we  came  to  the  cottage  of  the  wdchter  or  forster 
of  the  surrounding  woods,  who  also  acted  as  guide  to 
the  cave,  for  the  few  tourists  who  came  to  see  it ;  and 
when  he  heard  of  our  destination,  he  at  once  slipped 
on  a  second  ragged  coat,  took  a  woodman's  axe  and 
started  on  foot,  going  much  faster  than  the  carriage. 
This  was  not  surprising,  for  the  road  resembled  nothing 
but  the  bed  of  a  mountain  Jbrook,  a  mass  of  boulders 
with  ruts  between  them.  This  highway  was  made  by 
the  peasants  driving  their  carts  over  the  plain  in  the 
same  place,  and  as  the  soil  was  cut  away,  the  boulders 
appeared ;  and  over  and  among  these  we  went  banging 
along,  and  we  were  jolted  about  and  bumped  into  each 
other,  until  every  bone  in  my  body  ached. 

At  a  quarter  past  seven  o'clock  we  came  to  another 
house  in  a  little  glade,  where  the  carriage  stopped ;  and  on 
asking  the  forster  for  his  name,  he  wrote  down  in  my  note 
book,  in  a  clear  well  formed  hand: — Misura,  Franz.  From 
the  glade,  ten  minutes'  walk  on  a  mountain  path,  up  an 
easy  slope,  took  us  to  the  entrance  of  Demenyfalva.  It  is 
about  two  meters  wide  by  three  quarters  of  a  meter  high. 
We  passed  through  and  entered  a  large  chamber,  well 
lighted  from  the  right  by  another  opening,  which  is 
higher  up  and  bigger  than  the  entrance.  The  air  in 
this  chamber  was  at  about  the  same  temperature  as  that 
of  the  outside  air,  and,  on  our  return  from  the  nether 
world,  it  seemed  positively  balmy.  In  the  floor  at  the  end 
of  the  chamber,  a  small  pit  yawns  open.  It  is  perpendic- 


28  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ular  on  three  sides  and  set  at  a  sharp  angle  on  the  fourth. 
A  wooden  staircase  of  some  two  hundred  steps,  many  of 
which  are  sadly  out  of  repair,  leads  nearly  straight  down 
this  slope  to  the  glaciere. 

After  descending  about  eighty  steps  of  the  staircase, 
bits  of  ice  appeared  on  the  walls  and  floor  and  after  some 
thirty  steps  more,  a  lateral  gallery  opened  to  the  right, 
and  into  this  we  turned.  This  may  be  called  the  upper 
cave  or  story,  for  in  Demenyfalva — besides  the  entrance 
chamber — there  are  practically  two  stories,  the  upper  one 
of  which  is  mainly  ornamented  with  stalactites,  the  lower 
one  with  ice.  There  was  a  little  ice  on  the  floor  from 
which  rose  some  small  ice  columns,  perhaps  fifty  centi- 
meters in  height.  The  cave  or  gallery  had  a  gentle 
downward  slope  and  turned  towards  the  left.  After  some 
little  distance,  we  came  to  another  wooden  staircase,  of 
ten  or  twelve  steps,  quite  coated  over  with  thick,  solid  ice. 
Misura  had  to  cut  away  at  it  for  several  minutes,  before  he 
could  clear  the  steps  enough  to  descend.  This  was  in 
fact  the  beginning  of  an  ice  wall,  the  Eiswand  or  Eis- 
mauer,  which,  turning  to  the  right,  flowed  through  a  rock 
arch  to  the  lowest  cave.  The  rock  arch  or  portal  was 
some  three  meters  wide  and  two  meters  high,  and  a 
fringe  of  beautiful  organ-pipe  like  icicles  hung  on  it  on 
the  right  hand.  Just  beyond  the  portal  the  ice  sloped 
steeply  for  a  couple  of  meters ;  then  it  became  level  and 
on  it  rose  a  little  pyramid,  a  meter  and  a  half  in  height 
perhaps,  and  a  column ;  then  the  ice  sloped  away  again 
to  the  lower  cave. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  2Q 

We  then  continued  our  course  beyond  the  rock  portal 
along  the  upper  cavern  for  about  two  hundred  meters. 
It  was  a  fine  large  gallery  or  passage  and  during  the 
first  fifty  meters  or  so,  we  found  numerous  small  ice 
cones,  perhaps  a  hundred  of  them,  from  tiny  little  ones 
to  some  about  forty  centimeters  in  height.  Many  of 
these  were  columnar  in  form,  nearly  as  large  at  the  top 


FIG.  4.  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  D£MENYFALVA. 

as  at  the  base :  in  some  cases  the  top  was  flat,  and 
the  columns  then  looked  almost  as  if  an  upper  portion 
were  sawn  off.  I  have  seen  this  shape  of  column  no- 
where else.  In  places  there  were  slabs  and  bits  of  ice 
on  the  floor.  The  last  hundred  meters  of  this  upper 
cave  was  free  from  ice  and  was  exceptionally  dry.  It 
was  formed  of  a  pale  yellow  limestone  rock,  almost  dolo- 
mitic  in  color,  and  many  stalactites,  in  their  thousand 


3O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

various  shapes,  hung  from  the  roof  and  on  the  sides. 
In  one  spot,  one  big  limestone  stalagmite  towered  up 
directly  in  the  middle  of  the  gallery.  We  did  not  go  to 
the  end  of  the  cave,  where  ice  has  never  been  found. 

Retracing  our  course  past  the  rock  portal  to  the  en- 
trance pit,  we  descended  on  the  long  staircase  for  some 
eighty  steps  more,  the  amount  of  ice  on  the  rocks  steadily 
increasing.  In  places,  frost  crystals  had  formed  in  small 
quantities  on  the  roof  and  walls.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
pit,  another  lateral  gallery,  directly  under  the  upper 
gallery,  opened  to  the  right.  Entering  this,  we  passed 
over  broken  limestone  debris,  which  seemed  to  overlie  a 
mass  of  ice.  Limestone  stalactites  were  noticeable  all 
through  this  lower  cavern,  and  frost  and  icicles  had  some- 
times formed  over  them,  in  which  case  the  ice  stalactite 
assumed  the  form  of  the  limestone  stalactite.  Advancing 
a  few  meters,  we  went  by,  on  our  right  hand,  an  ice  pyra- 
mid of  a  couple  of  meters  in  height.  Just  beyond  this,  the 
cave  turned  to  the  left  like  the  upper  cave,  and  we  de- 
scended to  a  level  floor  of  transparent  ice,  into  which  we 
could  see  some  distance.  At  this  spot,  numerous  icicles, 
generally  of  inconsiderable  size,  hung  from  the  roof  and  on 
the  sides  of  the  cavern. 

At  the  further  end  of  this  ice  floor  or  ice  lake  we 
reached  an  ice  slope,  the  Eiswand,  which  flowed  to  the  ice 
floor  from  the  upper  cave  in  several  waves.  It  was  some 
six  meters  wide  and  twenty-five  meters  long ;  and  it  was 
not  steep,  perhaps  fifteen  degrees  in  the  steepest  portions. 
On  the  slope  some  old,  nearly  obliterated  steps  were  visi- 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  31 

ble,  and  at  these  Misura  proceeded  to  cut,  and  with  torch  in 
one  hand  and  axe  in  the  other,  gradually  worked  his  way 
up,  until  he  once  more  reached  the  level  spot  whence  we 
had  looked  down  the  ice  slope.  Here  he  stood  waving  his 
torch,  a  proceeding  indeed  he  did  constantly  throughout 
the  trip,  for  he  seemed  exceedingly  proud  of  the  beauties 
of  his  cavern.  This  waving  of  torches,  however,  is  ex- 
ceedingly foolish,  as  their  smoke  quickly  blackens  stalac- 
tite, and  in  fact  nothing  but  candles  and  magnesium  wire 
should  be  carried  for  lighting  purposes  underground.  The 
ice  of  the  ice  slope  was  hard,  gray  and  opaque,  quite 
different  from  that  of  the  ice  lake.  The  ice  floor  is 
formed  of  new  ice,  which  is  gradually  refilling  the  place 
from  which  Misura  said  the  ice  for  Buda-Pest  was  taken  out 
twenty-five  years  ago.  To  prove  this  assertion,  he  called 
my  attention  to  the  side  of  the  lake  directly  opposite  the 
ice  slope.  At  that  spot,  under  the  limestone  rubbish  over 
which  we  came,  there  was  an  outcrop  of  perpendicular 
opaque  ice  about  a  meter  high.  Misura  said  that  the 
workmen  began  to  cut  at  the  ice  slope  and  that  they 
dug  out  a  couple  of  meters  in  depth  from  the  ice  lake, 
until  they  had  cut  back  to  where  the  vertical  outcrop 
was  standing. 

The  explanation  seemed  to  be  in  accord  with  the  facts, 
and  if  so,  it  would  go  to  show  that  the  ice  in  this  cave  is  of 
slow  formation  and  great  permanency  ;  as  seems  also 
proved  by  the  steps  on  the  ice  wall,  which — we  were  the  first 
party  in  the  cave  in  1 896 — had  remained  over  from  the  pre- 
ceding summer.  Misura  told  me  he  had  never  seen  so  much 


32          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ice  nor  seen  it  so  hard  as  during  our  visit,  and  he  added 
that  there  was  generally  water  on  the  ice  lake,  and  he 
thought  there  would  be  some  in  two  or  three  weeks  more. 
The  greatest  quantity  of  ice  in  the  upper  cave  was  at  the 
head  of  the  ice-slope,  and  it  would  seem  as  though  there 
must  be  cracks  or  fissures  in  the  overhead  rocks  there, 
through  which  the  water  is  supplied  to  feed  the  ice,  not 
only  that  of  the  upper  cave,  but  also  the  larger  portion  of 
that  of  the  lower  cave. 

The  heavy  winter  air  would  naturally  sink  down  into 
the  entrance  pit  to  the  lower  cavern,  and  some  of  it  diverge 
into  the  beginning  of  the  upper  cavern,  which  at  first  is 
distinctly  a  down  slope.  A  little  beyond  the  portal  at 
the  head  of  the  ice  slope,  the  upper  cave  is  either  hori- 
zontal or  in  places  slightly  ascending.  Probably  this  pre- 
vents the  cold  air  from  entering  further,  and  probably 
also,  the  heat  of  the  earth  neutralizes  the  cold  air  of 
winter  beyond  a  definite  spot. 

The  air  in  the  cave  seemed  absolutely  still  throughout ; 
it  was  also  extremely  dry,  undoubtedly  because  melting 
had  not  yet  begun.  The  icicles  evidently  were  formed  by 
the  slow  drip  freezing  as  it  descended,  and  there  were  no 
perceptible  cracks  nor  fissures  in  the  rocks  underneath 
them.  The  facts  seem  to  me  to  prove  that  neither 
evaporation  nor  regelation  can  be  the  factors  at  work  in 
making  the  ice  and  we  may  deduce  an  important  rule 
therefrom.  When  a  cave  is  dry,  then  the  air  is  dry ; 
when  a  cave  is  wet,  then  the  atmosphere  is  damp.  In 
other  words,  the  state  of  dryness  or  dampness  of  glaciere 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  33 

atmosphere  depends  on  how  much  the  ice  is  thawing  and 
parting  with  its  moisture. 

On  our  return  to  the  base  of  the  long  staircase,  and 
while  we  ascended  it,  we  had  an  exquisite  moonlight  effect, 
much  resembling  the  one  at  the  Schafloch. 

THE  FRAINER  EISLEITHEN. 

About  two  hours  by  rail,  north  of  Vienna,  is  the  vil- 
lage of  Schoenwald,  to  which  I  journeyed  on  June  the 
1 5th,  1896.  At  the  railroad  station  there  was  a  K.  K. 
Post  Omnibus  in  waiting,  which,  when  it  was  packed 
with  passengers  and  luggage,  drove  over  to  Frain  in  an 
hour.  The  admirable  road  lies  across  a  rolling  plain, 
until  it  reaches  the  brink  of  the  valley  of  the  Thaya,  to 
which  it  descends  in  long  Alpine  zigzags.  On  the  bluff 
overlooking  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  there  is  a  fine 
schloss. 

I  secured  the  seat  next  to  the  driver  and  questioned 
him  about  the  Eisleithen.  Although  he  had  driven  on 
this  road  for  five  years,  without  visiting  the  Eisleithen, 
yet  he  was  positive  that  they  were  warm  in  winter,  but 
cold  in  summer.  He  said  more  than  once :  Desto  keisser 
der  Sommer,  desto  mehr  das  Eis,  and  in  fact  was  an  em- 
phatic exponent  of  the  notions  generally  held  by  peasants, 
which  some  savants  have  adopted  and  tried  to  expound. 
At  Frain,  I  applied  at  the  little  hotel  for  a  guide,  and  was 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  hotel  boots.  He  was  an 
intelligent,  talkative  youth,  but  he  insisted  also  that  "the 
hotter  the  summer,  the  more  ice  there  is."  However, 


34          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

he  was   polite,  and  made   up   for  any   shortcomings   by 
always  addressing  me  as  der  gnddige  Herr. 

The  day  was  hot,  so  it  took  us  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  on  foot,  along  the  valley  of  the  Thaya,  to  reach 
the  base  of  the  bluff  where  the  Eisleithen  are  situated, 
at  an  altitude  of  about  four  hundred  meters.  The  hill- 
side is  covered  with  patches  of  scrubby  forest ;  and  to- 
wards the  summit,  the  entire  mass  of  the  hill  is  honey- 
combed with  cracks  and  the  rocks  are  much  broken  up. 
After  about  ten  minutes'  ascent  up  a  little  path,  we  came 
to  small  holes,  from  each  of  which  a  current  of  cool  air 
poured  out;  these  holes  seemed  fairly  horizontal,  and 
the  temperatures  were  high  enough  to  prove  that  there 
was  no  ice  within.  A  little  further  on,  we  came  to  a  hole 
or  tiny  cave  among  a  pile  of  rocks,  where  there  was 
a  painted  sign  :  Eisgrube.  It  went  down  from  the  mouth, 
and  I  put  my  hand  well  in,  but,  beyond  the  length  of  my 
arm,  I  could  neither  see  nor  measure  its  shape  or  depth. 
The  air  felt  cold,  but  was  nowhere  near  freezing  point ; 
nor  was  it  possible  to  determine  whether  there  was  a 
draught :  it  may  or  may  not  be  a  wind  cave.  Not  far  from 
this,  there  were  two  gullies,  each  terminating  in  a  small 
cave.  The  first  gully  was  planned  somewhat  like  certain 
traps  for  wild  animals,  that  is,  it  narrowed  gradually  from 
the  entrance,  then  became  covered  over ;  and  then  dwin- 
dled, after  some  four  meters  more,  into  a  small  descend- 
ing hole,  the  end  of  which  we  could  not  reach.  But  we 
got  in  far  enough,  to  come  to  large  chunks  or  slabs  of 
ice  plastered  about  on  the  floor  and  sides.  In  this  cave, 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  35 

which  was  sheltered  against  sun  and  wind,  the  air,  as  tested 
by  the  smoke  of  a  cigar,  was  motionless,  and  the  cave 
seemed  unconnected  with  any  air  current.  The  second 
gully  terminated  in  a  somewhat  larger  cave,  whose  floor 
was  well  below  the  entrance  ;  no  ice  was  visible,  however, 
although  the  air  was  still  and  the  temperature  low.  This 
cave  may  or  may  not  be  a  glaciere  ;  but  surely  it  is  not 
a  cold  current  cave. 

These  Frainer  Eisleithen  certainly  offer  an  interesting 
field  to  anyone  studying  subterranean  ice,  from  the  fact 
that  there  are,  in  the  same  rocks,  caves  without  appar- 
ent draughts  in  summer  and  containing  ice,  and  caves 
with  distinct  draughts  and  no  ice.  The  problem  seems 
more  intricate  than  is  usually  the  case,  but  the  solution 
is  simply  that  the  two  classes  of  caves  happen  to  be 
found  together. 

THE  EISHOHLE  BEI  ROTH. 

The  Eifel  is  one  of  the  bleakest  districts  of  Central 
Europe,  and  to  one  entering  it  from  the  vineyards  and 
the  well-inhabited  basin  of  the  Rhine,  the  contrast  is  im- 
pressive. The  railroad  rises  gradually  to  a  land  of  com- 
paratively desert  appearance,  with  rocks  and  trees  on  the 
heights  and  a  sparse  cultivation  in  the  valleys.  But,  if 
the  country  is  unattractive  to  the  agriculturist,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  the  geologist,  on  account  of  the  great 
number  of  extinct  volcanoes.  Almost  in  the  centre  of 
the  Eifel  is  the  little  town  of  Gerollstein,  famed  for  the 
Gerollsteiner  Sprudel,  which  gives  forth  an  effervescence 


36          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

undreamed  of  by  anyone,  who  has  not  visited  the  birth 
place  of  some  of  these  German  table  waters. 

About  an  hour's  walk  from  Gerollstein,  on  the  side 
of  a  small  hill,  is  situated  the  little  Eishohle  bei  Roth, 
named  after  a  neighboring  village.  I  went  to  this  place, 
on  the  25th  of  June,  1896,  with  a  young  boy  as  guide. 
The  cave  is  sheltered  from  the  wind  by  a  wood  around 
it,  among  which  are  many  large  trees.  It  is  at  the  base 
of  a  wall  of  piled  up  lava,  or  at  least  volcanic,  rocks 
which  form  a  sort  of  cauldron.  The  entrance  is  a  small 
tunnel  some  five  meters  long,  which  goes  straight  down 
at  an  angle  of  about  twenty-five  degrees  and  then  turns 
sharply  to  the  left.  At  the  turn,  the  cave  may  be  per- 
haps one  meter  in  height.  We  did  not  go  beyond  this 
spot,  where  the  air  was  icy  and  the  temperature  sub- 
normal, as  the  tunnel  was  blocked  up  by  a  large  boulder, 
which  had  evidently  recently  fallen  from  the  rocks  in 
front.  There  was  no  ice,  as  far  as  we  went,  and  the  boy 
said  it  began  three  or  four  meters  further  in.  He  told 
me  that  there  was  no  ice  in  the  cavern  in  winter,  but 
admitted  that  he  had  not  entered  it  at  that  season,  so 
that  was  hearsay.  He  had  heard  also  that  the  ice  was 
sometimes  taken  out  for  sick  people,  but  otherwise  it 
was  not  used. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  the  conditions  at  Roth  show 
that  the  ice  is  formed  by  the  cold  of  winter  alone :  the 
cave  is  well  below  the  entrance ;  it  is  the  lowest  point 
of  the  surrounding  cauldron  of  rocks  and  all  the  cold 
air  naturally  gravitates  to  it ;  it  is  sheltered  by  rocks 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  37 

and  trees  from  wind  or  exposure  to  the  rays  of  the 
sun ;  the  tunnel  faces  nearly  due  north  ;  and  the  water 
necessary  to  supply  the  ice,  easily  soaks  between  the 
lava  blocks. 

THE  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE. 

Eisenerz,  in  Eastern  Tyrol,  is  a  picturesquely  situ- 
ated little  town.  It  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  valley, 
with  mountains  all  around  it.  Two  of  these  are  bare, 
gaunt  limestone  peaks,  which  are  decidedly  dolomitic  in 
form  and  color.  The  sharpest  of  these  is  to  the  north. 
It  is  called  the  Pfaffenstein  and  is  the  beginning  of  the 
range  culminating  in  the  Frauenmauer.  On  a  mountain 
to  the  east  of  the  town,  one  sees  the  iron  mines  and 
works,  whence  the  town  takes  its  name  "Ironore,"  and 
whence  quantities  of  iron  are  taken  out  every  year.  The 
mines  are  said  to  have  been  in  operation  for  over  a 
thousand  years,  since  about  A.  D.  800.  After  the  ore 
is  taken  from  the  mine  and  roughly  prepared,  it  is  run 
down  in  small  cars  through  a  covered  way  to  the  rail- 
road station  to  be  shipped ;  and  at  certain  times  there 
is  a  seemingly  endless  procession  of  these  cars,  each 
bearing,  besides  its  load  of  ore,  a  miner,  with  clothes 
and  person  entirely  begrimed  to  the  yellow-brown  color 
of  the  iron. 

As  I  walked  out  of  the  Eisenerz  railroad  station,  an 
old  man  in  Tyrolese  costume  asked  me  if  I  wanted  a 
trdger  and  a  guide,  so,  while  he  was  carrying  my  valise 
to  the  hotel,  we  came  to  terms.  He  was  one  of  the 


38          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

patented  guides  of  the  district  and  wore  the  large  badge 
of  the  Austrian  guides.  If  the  size  of  the  badge  made 
the  guide,  one  should  be  safe  with  Tyrolese,  but  for 
difficult  excursions,  it  will  not  do  to  trust  to  a  guide 
simply  because  he  happens  to  be  "  patented "  ;  that  is, 
not  if  one  values  the  safety  of  one's  neck.  Next  morn- 
ing, July  the  9th,  1896,  the  old  guide  arrived  betimes  at 
the  hotel  and  roused  me  by  tapping  on  the  wall  below 
my  window  with  his  stick.  We  left  at  half  past  five 
o'clock.  My  companion,  who  should  have  known  better, 
had  not  breakfasted,  so  by  the  time  we  reached  the 
Gsoll  Alp  at  a  quarter-past  seven,  he  was  almost  tired 
out.  He  wore  the  regulation  black  chamois  knee  breeches 
and  a  gamsbart  in  his  hat.  He  picked  many  flowers  en 
route,  ostensibly  because  they  were  pretty ;  but  in  real- 
ity, I  think,  because  it  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  re- 
cover his  wind.  He  told  me  he  was  sixty-three  years 
old,  and  he  certainly  went  up  hill  with  some  difficulty, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  fairly  succeeded  in 
showing  a  clean  pair  of  heels  to  a  patentirter  fuhrer  on 
a  mountain  side.  At  one  place  he  found  a  large  snail 
in  the  road.  This  he  wrapped  up  in  leaves  and  placed 
on  a  rock,  and  on  our  return  he  picked  the  leaves  and 
snail  up,  and  rammed  the  whole  bundle  into  his  pocket, 
informing  me  that  it  was  excellent  Arznei,  although  he 
did  not  mention  for  what  complaint. 

The  road  led  up  a  wooded  valley,  in  a  sort  of  series  of 
steps,  bits  of  even  ground  interspersed  by  steeper  ones, 
with  the  Pfaffenstein-Frauenmauer  limestone  peaks  poking 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  39 

up  their  jagged  summits  on  the  left.  The  sky  was  clear 
at  starting,  except  in  the  west,  where  clouds  were  form- 
ing, and  these  gradually  overspread  the  whole  sky,  and 
finally  turned  to  rain.  Just  before  we  reached  the  Gsoll 
Alp,  we  went  by  a  huge  snow  avalanche,  which  had 
fallen  in  February  and  torn  a  lane  clear  through  the 
pines,  bringing  down  numbers  of  them  with  it.  The 
remains  of  the  avalanche  were  banked  up  on  the  side 
of  the  road,  which  was  cut  out,  and  many  of  the  pines 
were  still  piled  on  and  in  the  snow.  Stopping  ten 
minutes  at  the  alp  to  allow  my  guide  to  recuperate  on 
some  bread  and  milk,  we  then  crossed  the  pastures  and 
pushed  up  a  rather  steep  slope  by  a  small  path,  at  one 
place  crossing  the  remains  of  another  avalanche.  We 
also  came  near  having  the  attentions  of  a  little  bull  which 
was  screaming  viciously.  My  guide  said  it  was  an  ex- 
tremely disagreeable  beast,  but  he  did  not  think  it  would 
attack  him,  as  he  always  made  a  point  of  giving  it 
bread  when  at  the  chalet.  We  reached  the  entrance  of 
the  cave  at  a  quarter-past  eight. 

A  man  and  a  boy  from  Eisenerz,  who  had  heard  I 
was  going  to  the  cavern  and  who  wished  to  profit  by 
my  guide,  caught  up  with  us  here.  They  were  much 
disappointed  when  I  told  them  I  should  visit  only  the 
Eiskammer.  They  went  into  the  cave  at  the  same  time 
that  we  did,  and  eventually  we  left  them  pushing  up 
one  of  the  side  chambers,  with  only  one  torch  in 
their  possession.  My  guide  said  he  thought  they  were 
risking  their  lives,  as  there  were  many  holes  they  might 


4O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

fall  into,  besides  the  probability  of  their  finding  them- 
selves in  total  darkness.  He  told  me  that  once,  while 
in  the  cavern,  he  heard  distant  yells,  and,  going  up  the 
gallery  whence  they  proceeded,  found  a  man  half  dead, 
who  said  he  had  tried  to  come  through  the  mountain 
by  himself,  had  broken  his  lantern  and  had  remained  in 
the  darkness  an  indefinite  number  of  hours;  a  situation, 
the  horror  of  which  could  not  be  realized  by  anyone  who 
has  not  been  underground  without  a  light  and  felt  the 
absolute  blackness  of  a  cavern. 

The  Frauenmauer  is  a  limestone  peak,  1828  meters 
in  height,  one  of  several  forming  a  horseshoe  round  the 
Gsoll  Alp.  It  presents  on  that  side  a  sheer  wall  of  rock, 
in  which  there  are  two  holes  close  together,  at  an  alti- 
tude of  1335  meters.  These  are  the  lower  openings  of  the 
Frauenmauerhohle,  of  which  the  higher  and  biggest  one 
is  used  for  an  entrance.  They  are  some  thirty  or  forty 
meters  from  the  base  of  the  rock  wall,  and  a  flight  of 
wooden  steps  leads  up  to  the  entrance  opening,  which 
is  narrow  and  high.  At  the  top  of  the  steps,  we  stood 
in  the  mouth  of  the  cave ;  and,  going  in  four  or  five 
meters,  saw  the  other  opening  to  the  left,  below  us. 
About  five  meters  further,  there  was  one  small  lump  of 
ice,  as  big  as  a  pumpkin,  lying  on  the  ground,  but  this 
may  have  been  carried  there  from  within.  The  cavern 
went  nearly  straight  for  some  twenty-five  meters  from 
the  entrance,  rising  all  the  time  gently.  Then  came  a 
steep  little  drop,  of  some  four  or  five  meters,  in  the 
rock  floor,  and  here  a  small  wooden  staircase  was 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  41 

placed.  A  gallery  opened  to  the  right  and  this  was 
the  cavern  proper,  which  leads  through  the  mountain. 
It  rose  considerably  and  contained  no  ice  as  far  as  we 
went,  which  was  for  some  distance.  The  walking  was 
bad,  as  the  floor  was  covered  with  geroll,  that  is  broken 
detritus. 

Returning  and  continuing  towards  the  freezing  chamber, 
the  floor  of  the  cavern  began  to  rise  once  more,  contin- 
uing for  some  forty-five  meters  to  its  highest  point, 
which  is  lower,  however,  than  the  top  of  the  entrance, 
an  important  fact  to  notice.  For,  although  the  floor  of 
the  cave  is  considerably  higher,  at  a  distance  of  seventy 
meters  within,  than  the  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  en- 
trance ;  still,  that  highest  spot  is  below  the  level  of  the 
top  of  the  entrance.  This  fact,  and  also  the  size  of  the 
gallery,  unquestionably  explains  why  the  cold  air  can  get 
in  as  far  as  it  does.  At  this  highest  spot  we  found  a 
considerable  mass  of  ice,  a  couple  of  cartloads  in  bulk 
perhaps,  which  the  guide  said  would  melt  away  later  in 
the  summer.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  remains  of  a  fallen 
stalactite.  This  mass  of  ice  is  an  interesting  point  in 
connection  with  the  Frauenmauerhohle,  for  it  shows  that 
ice  in  a  cave  sometimes  forms,  even  if  in  small  quanti- 
ties, above  the  level  of  the  base  of  the  entrance.  There 
seems  no  reason  why  it  should  not  do  so,  provided 
there  is  the  necessary  water  supply.  Such  ice  would, 
however,  suffer  more,  as  soon  as  the  outside  air  was 
over  freezing  point,  than  would  ice  which  was  below  the 
level  of  the  entrance.  It  would  probably  disappear  early 


42          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

in  the  year,  unless  the  cave  were  in  a  latitude  or  at  an 
altitude  where  snow  remained  in  the  open  during  most 
of  the  year. 

From  this  highest  point,  the  cave  turns  somewhat  to 
the  left,  and  the  floor  begins  to  slope  downward,  sinking 
gradually  to  some  six  meters  below  the  level  of  the  en- 
trance. Ten  meters  or  so  from  the  highest  point,  we 
began  to  find  icicles  and  fissure  columns,  and  about  twenty 


FIG.  5.  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE. 

meters  further,  we  reached  an  almost  level  ice  floor, 
stretching  across  the  entire  width  of  the  cave — some  seven 
meters — and  extending  about  fifty  meters  more  to  the  end 
of  the  cave.  In  several  places  there  was  much  frozen 
rime  on  the  rock  walls.  There  were  also  a  number  of 
columns  and  icicles,  though  none  of  any  special  beauty. 
I  broke  a  piece  off  one  of  them,  and  the  ice  was  trans- 
parent and  free  from  prisms,  showing  that  this  column 
was  probably  of  fairly  recent  origin.  Letting  a  bit  melt 
in  my  mouth,  the  water  tasted  pure  and  sweet. 

In  two  places,  there  were  abgrunds,  that  is,  holes 
in  the  ice.  One  of  these  was  a  wide,  deep  hole  on  the 
left  side  of  the  cave,  between  the  rock  and  the  ice  floor. 
The  other  was  a  great  hole  in  the  ice  floor  itself.  As 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  43 

the  edges  of  both  holes  sloped  sharply,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  get  near  enough  to  look  into  either,  but  I  threw 
in  lumps  of  ice,  and  from  the  sound  should  judge  that  the 
holes  were  about  three  meters  deep.  The  hole  in  the  ice 
floor  seemed  to  be  cut  by  drip,  and  I  think  they  both 
carried  off  the  drainage. 

The  ice  floor  was  sloppy  and  thawing  rapidly.  At  the 
furthest  point  we  reached,  within  about  fifteen  meters 
from  the  end  of  the  ice  chamber,  we  were  stopped  by  an 
accumulation  of  water  lying  on  the  ice.  I  poked  into  it 
with  my  ice  axe  and  found  it  about  twenty  centimeters  in 
depth.  There  was  a  crust  of  ice  on  top  in  places.  The 
lake  was  cold,  but  I  am  sure  the  water  was  not  freezing, 
as  I  held  my  hand  in  it  at  least  a  minute  without  pain. 
The  guide  assured  me  that  in  two  weeks  or  so  the  lake 
would  be  completely  frozen,  provided  there  was  some  fine, 
warm  weather ;  but,  if  there  was  rain,  he  said  that  it 
would  not  freeze.  By  this  statement,  he  unintentionally 
explained,  what  he  asserted  was  true,  namely,  that  the 
cave  froze  harder  in  August  than  in  July.  The  explana- 
tion of  course  is,  that  in  fine,  dry  weather,  water  does 
not  run  into  the  cavern,  and  then  the  lake  gradually 
drains  off,  leaving  the  ice  floor  free  from  water ;  and  this 
the  natives  interpret  to  mean  that  the  water  has  frozen  up. 
At  the  edge  of  the  lake  there  was  a  fissure  in  the 
left  hand  rock  wall,  in  which  my  companion  assured  me 
that  a  column  would  shortly  form.  I  absolutely  doubt 
this  statement,  as,  if  it  were  true,  it  would  be  contrary  to 
everything  I  have  seen  ;  still,  I  wish  I  could  have  returned 


44          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

in  August,  to  verify  the  matter.  I  poked  my  torch  up 
the  fissure,  also  felt  in  with  my  hand.  It  was  cold,  and  on 
the  rocks  inside  there  was  much  hoar  frost,  but  I  could 
neither  see  nor  feel  any  ice  mass,  nor  am  I  sure  how 
far  the  fissure  extended. 

The  air  was  still,  damp  and  over  freezing  point  through- 
out the  Eiskammer,  and  all  the  signs  showed  that  the  cave 
was  in  a  state  of  thaw.  Although  the  rocks  are  limestone 
and  scarcely  blackened  by  smoke  anywhere,  yet  as  our 
torches  did  not  give  much  light,  the  color  impression  was 
black  and  gray,  like  the  Schafloch. 

At  the  hotel  the  landlord  confirmed  in  every  particular 
the  story  of  the  cave  freezing  hardest  in  August  or  Sep- 
tember. He  had  never  been  there  himself,  but  stated 
that  everyone  said  the  same  thing,  and  that  many  people 
had  "  broken  their  heads  "  trying  to  account  for  it.  At 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  my  guide  came  to  let  me 
know  that  the  man  and  boy,  whom  we  left  trying  to  pene- 
trate the  cave,  had  just  turned  up  after  making  all  their 
relatives  extremely  anxious.  They  were  nearly  lost,  and 
had  in  general  an  extremely  uncomfortable  time.  It  is 
scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  accidents  occur  in  caves 
and  on  mountains  when  people,  with  neither  knowledge 
nor  proper  preparation,  go  wandering  off  by  themselves 
into  the  unknown.4 

4  On  the  evening  of  June  29th,  1897,  I  met  at  Hieflau  three  Viennese 
tourists  who  had  come  that  day  through  the  Frauenmauer.  They  found 
the  lake  on  the  ice  floor  of  the  Eiskammer,  just  as  I  had  in  1896.  They 
said  also,  moreover,  that  they  found  ice  and  icicles  or  ice  columns  in  the 
main  cave  ;  unfortunately,  they  did  not  explain  clearly  in  what  part. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  45 

THE  MILCHHAUSER  OF  SEELISBERG. 

The  summer  of  1896,  will  long  be  remembered  by 
Alpine  climbers  for  the  pitiless  rain  storm,  which  kept  com- 
ing steadily  down  during  the  vacation  months.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  this  that  I  arrived  at  Trieb,  on  the  Lake  of  Lu- 
cerne, on  the  6th  of  August,  to  see  whether  I  could  find 
the  windholes  which  were  reported  near  Seelisberg.  At 
the  landing  place  I  found  Herr  J.  M.  Ziegler,  the  owner  of 
the  Hotel  Bellevue  at  Seelisberg,  who  promptly  secured 
a  nice,  blond  bearded  young  fellow,  a  relative  of  his  and 
his  knecht,  as  a  guide.  It  was  pouring  when  we  started, 
a  proceeding  which  kept  on  during  our  entire  excursion. 
We  tramped  up  a  narrow  road,  paved  with  great  stones 
in  the  old  Swiss  fashion,  and,  as  my  guide  truly  said, 
awfully  steep  for  horses. 

Half  an  hour  from  the  boat  landing,  took  us  to  the  first 
milkhouse,  which  belonged  to  Herr  Ziegler.  It  was  in  a 
small  patch  of  woods,  and  was  placed  against  a  cliff, 
where  rocks  had  fallen  down  and  formed  a  talus  of  broken 
detritus.  The  side  walls  of  the  house  were  built  out  from 
the  cliff  and  roofed  over,  and  the  front  wall  had  a  doorway 
closed  with  a  wooden  door.  At  the  back  the  detritus  or 
geroll  was  built  into  a  vertical,  unplastered  wall  between 
most  of  the  interstices  of  which,  cool  air  came  forth.  Sev- 
eral of  these  interstices  were  fairly  large  holes  of  uncertain 
depth.  It  was  a  cool  day  and  the  air  currents  were  only 
a  little  cooler  than  the  temperature  outside. 

Another  half  an  hour  of  uphill  walking,  partly  on  roads 


46          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  partly  over  soaking  meadows,  took  us  to  Seelisberg, 
where  we  stopped  at  the  house  of  the  owner  of  the  second 
milkhouse,  to  get  the  key.  The  owner  could  not  go  with 
us  because  he  had  damaged  his  foot,  by  wearing  great 
wooden  shoes  or  sabots  armed  with  enormous  spikes,  while 
cutting  grass  on  steep  slopes.  He  was  hospitable  enough  : 
unlike  his  dog,  who  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  attack  us. 
The  owner  said — in  the  intervals  of  the  dog's  howls — that 
ice  formed  during  the  winter  in  the  rear  wall  of  his 
milkhouse  and  remained  until  about  June.  The  milk- 
house  was  in  a  little  patch  of  woods  against  a  small  cliff, 
at  the  bottom  of  which  were  broken  rocks.  We  had 
some  difficulty  in  getting  in,  working  for  at  least  ten 
minutes  at  the  lock,  while  drops  of  rainwater  would  oc- 
casionally drip  into  our  coat  collars.  Just  as  I  had  given 
up  hope,  my  companion  succeeded  in  getting  the  key  to 
turn.  There  were  several  pans,  full  of  milk,  placed  to  cool, 
and  several  barrels  of  potatoes ;  and,  as  at  the  first  milk- 
house,  we  found  that  the  rear  wall  consisted  simply  of 
heaped  up  detritus  built  into  a  vertical  position.  Gentle 
air  currents  flowed  from  several  large  holes  and  from  the 
cracks  between  the  stones. 

From  here  we  went  by  a  path  through  woods  and  over 
meadows  down  to  the  lake,  coming  to  the  shore  some  dis- 
tance to  the  west  of  the  steamboat  landing.  Everything 
was  soaking  wet,  and  as  we  proceeded,  I  felt  my  clothes 
getting  wetter  and  my  shoes  absorbing  water  like  sponges 
until,  when  we  came  to  an  overflowing  brook,  wading 
through  seemed  rather  pleasant.  There  is  one  advantage 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  47 

of  getting  thoroughly  wet  feet  in  the  mountains :  it  makes 
crossing  streams  so  much  easier,  as  one  does  not  delay, 
but  simply  steps  right  in. 

The  lower  milkhouse  was  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  near 
the  house  of  a  fisherman,  whose  wife  opened  the  door  for 
us.  There  was  some  milk  in  pans  and  several  barrels  of 
wine;  and  on  a  board  were  a  number  of  f err  as  from  the 
lake ;  the  result  of  two  days'  catching  in  nets.  This  was 
the  largest  of  the  three  milkhouses  ;  although  it  did  not 
have  as  many  big  holes  in  the  rock  wall  as  the  others,  but 
only  the  interstices  between  the  blocks  of  rock,  whence 
we  could  feel  cool  air  flowing  out.  The  woman  said  that 
the  ice  melted  away  by  April  or  May,  but  that  in  winter 
the  wine  barrels  were  all  covered  with  frost.  She  also  said 
that  the  air  coming  from  the  clefts  in  summer  was  colder 
when  the  weather  was  warm,  than  when  it  was  rainy. 
Doubtless  the  temperature  of  the  draughts  remains  the 
same  during  the  summer,  but  the  air  feels  cooler  to  the 
hand  when  the  outside  air  is  hot. 

A  walk  of  another  half  hour,  through  more  soaking  wet 
grass,  brought  us  back  to  the  steamboat  landing  at  Trieb, 
where  I  touched  my  guide's  heart  with  the  gift  of  a  five 
franc  piece,  and  had  a  talk  with  Herr  Ziegler.  He  said 
that  there  were  a  number  of  places  in  the  neighborhood 
whence  cold  air  came  forth  during  the  summer  from  cracks 
in  the  rocks  :  that  there  were  also  other  milkhouses,  notably 
one  at  Tell's  Platte,  on  the  lake  :  and  that  the  milkhouses 
were  not  generally  used  in  winter,  when  the  doors  were  left 
open,  to  allow  the  cold  air  to  penetrate  as  much  as  possible 


48  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

through  the  rocks  behind.  During  the  winter  the  draughts 
were  reversed,  and  poured  in  instead  of  out  of  the  open- 
ings, and  Herr  Ziegler  thought  that  at  that  time  the  interior 
of  the  rock  cracks  became  chilled,  and  that  possibly  ice 
formed  in  them  which  helped  to  chill  the  summer  currents, 
when  the  draughts  poured  out  from  the  holes. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  LA  GENOLLIERE. 

On  Tuesday,  the  nth  of  August,  1896,  a  cool  and  rainy 
day,  I  left  Geneva  and  went  by  train  to  Nyon,  where  I 
found  at  the  station  a  little  victoria,  in  which  I  drove  up  to 
Saint-Cergues.  The  road  lay  across  the  plain  to  the  base  of 
the  slopes  of  the  Jura,  and  then  up  these  in  long  zigzags  ;  it 
was  admirably  built  and  on  the  hill  slopes  passed  the  whole 
way  through  a  beautiful  thick  forest,  principally  beeches 
and  birches.  At  Saint-Cergues,  I  went  to  the  Pension 
Capt,  where  the  landlady  soon  found  a  guide  in  the  shape 
of  the  gendarme  of  the  district,  a  right  good  fellow,  Amy 
Aimee  Turrian  by  name.  He  was  in  uniform,  with  an  army 
revolver  in  a  holster  at  his  belt.  We  then  drove  about 
half  an  hour  beyond  Saint-Cergues,  the  road  rising  but  little, 
and  the  thick  forest  giving  place  to  a  more  open  wood  of 
evergreens,  with  patches  of  pasturage.  As  a  forest  sani- 
tarium, Saint-Cergues  seems  unsurpassed  in  the  whole  of 
Europe.  The  carriage  turned  up  a  little  country  road, 
which  soon  became  too  rough  for  driving,  so  we  proceeded 
on  foot  for  about  another  half  hour,  through  pine  woods 
and  pastures,  to  the  glaciere.  Turrian  enlivened  the  way 
with  an  account  of  his  life  as  a  gendarme,  of  the  long  soli- 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  49 

tary  six  hour  patrols  in  the  woods  in  winter,  and  of  how 
he  lay  in  ambush  for  poachers.  He  said  he  would  not 
take  long  to  fire  on  anyone  resisting  arrest,  as  that  was 
serieux. 

The  glaciere  is  in  the  middle  of  a  pasture,  with  several 
pine  trees  overhanging  it.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  wall, 
built  to  prevent  the  cows  from  falling  in.  There  are  two 
pits,  side  by  side  and  about  three  meters  apart :  they  are 
some  thirteen  meters  in  depth,  with  a  width  of  five  or  six 
meters.  They  open  into  one  another  at  the  bottom ;  the 
rock  separating  them,  forming  a  natural  bridge  overhead. 
One  of  the  pits  is  vertical  on  all  sides.  The  other  is  ver- 
tical all  around,  except  on  the  side  furthest  away  from  the 
natural  bridge.  Here  the  side  of  the  pit  is  in  the  shape, 
so  usual  in  glacieres,  of  a  steep  slope.  Down  this  slope 
we  descended.  It  was  slippery  and  muddy,  owing  to  the 
recent  heavy  rains,  and  my  ice  axe  proved  invaluable  and 
probably  saved  me  some  unpleasant  falls.  Under  the 
bridge,  the  floor  was  covered  with  a  mass  of  shattered 
limestone  debris,  among  which  there  was  neither  ice  nor 
snow;  both  of  which  my  guide  said  he  had  found  in 
abundance  the  preceding  June.  A  little  limestone  cavern 
opened  on  one  side  below  the  bridge.  A  great,  flat 
limestone  slab  formed  a  natural  lintel,  and,  lighting  our 
candles,  we  stooped  down  and  passed  under  it  into  the 
cave,  which  was  about  the  size  of  a  room  and  in  which 
we  could  just  stand  up.  At  the  entrance  and  over  most 
of  the  floor  there  was  ice,  in  one  place  thirty  or  forty 
centimeters  in  depth,  as  I  could  see  where  a  drip  from 


50  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

the  roof  had  cut  a  hole.  There  were  no  signs  of  icicles  or 
columns.  My  guide  said  he  had  never  penetrated  into  this 
chamber,  which  he  thought,  on  his  earlier  visit,  was  blocked 
with  ice  and  snow.  I  did  not  see  any  limestone  stalac- 
tites anywhere,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  low 
temperatures  of  glacieres  have  a  tendency  to  prevent 
their  formation. 

After  our  visit,  we  went  to  the  Chalet  de  La  Genolliere 
close  by,  where  there  were  some  thirty  cows  and  calves. 
The  intelligent  berger  or  manager  said  that  most  of  the  ice 
from  the  glaciere  was  used  for  butter  making  during  the 
hot  weather;  and  that  between  the  inroads  thus  made 
upon  it  and  from  other  causes,  the  ice  disappeared  every 
year  before  autumn,  but  that  it  formed  afresh  every  winter ; 
pretty  good  evidence  to  show  that  the  ice  in  this  cave  has 
nothing  to  do  with  a  glacial  period.  He  also  stated  that 
when  he  first  entered  the  inner  chamber  in  the  spring 
there  were  four  ice  columns  there. 

The  glaciere  de  La  Genolliere  is  a  clear  exemplification 
of  the  theory  that  the  cold  of  winter  is  the  sole  cause  for 
the  ice.  The  whole  glaciere  is  rather  small  and  is  fairly 
well  protected  against  wind.  Although  snow  cannot  fall 
directly  under  the  rock  arch,  yet  I  should  imagine  it  drifts 
under,  or  after  melting,  runs  in  and  refreezes.  To  the 
inner  cave  snow,  as  snow,  could  hardly  reach;  and  the 
cavern  is  probably  filled,  like  most  cave  glacieres,  from 
frozen  drip.  The  inner  cave  is,  therefore,  a  true  cave 
glaciere,  while  the  outer  pits  and  the  bridge  are  some- 
thing between  a  gorge  and  a  cave.  La  Genolliere  should, 


EXPERIENCES   IN    GLACIERES.  51 

I  think,  be  visited  about  the  end  of  June,  when  the  ice 
formations  are  certainly  larger  and  more  interesting  than 
in  August. 

THE  FRIEDRICHSTEINER  OR  GOTTSCHEER  EISHOHLE. 

A  little  to  the  east  of,  and  in  about  the  same  latitude 
as  Trieste,  is  the  small  town  of  Gottschee,  now  reached  by 
a  branch  railroad  from  Laibach.  Gottschee  is  a  German 
settlement  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  district  known  as  the 
Duchy  of  Krain,  Austria,  which  is  mainly  inhabited  in 
the  north  by  Slavonians  and  in  the  south  by  Croatians. 
Gottschee  lies  directly  at  the  western  base  of  the  Fried- 
richsteiner  Gebirge,  one  of  whose  peaks  is  the  Burgernock. 
On  the  eastern  slopes  of  this  mountain  is  situated  the 
Friedrichsteiner  or  Gottscheer  Eishohle,  at  an  altitude  of 
about  nine  hundred  meters. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1897,  I  left  Gottschee  at  half  past 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning  with  Stefan  Klenka,  a  nice  little 
man.  I  had  asked  to  have  him  come  at  six  o'clock,  but  he 
did  not  turn  up  and  I  had  to  send  for  him.  His  excuse 
was,  that  tourists  always  ordered  him  for  six  o'clock,  but 
when  the  time  came,  they  were  still  in  bed.  He  had  taken 
a  German  officer  and  his  wife  to  the  cave  the  year  before, 
and  after  keeping  him  waiting  three  hours,  they  started  at 
nine  o'clock.  The  result  was  that  they  did  not  get  to  the 
cave  until  two  o'clock,  and  returned  to  Gottschee  just  at 
nightfall. 

We  reached  the  cave  at  half  past  eight  o'clock.  The 
steep  and  rough  path  went  uphill  through  a  fine  forest,. 


52  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

which  my  guide  said  was  Urwald,  i.  <?.,  primeval  forest ;  and 
there  were  certainly  some  big  trees  and  many  fallen  ones, 
and  much  underbrush.  He  assured  me  that  bears  were 
still  plentiful  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  Prince  Auers- 
perg,  who  owns  the  shooting,  does  not  allow  them  to  be 
killed,  preferring  to  pay  for  any  damage  they  may  cause 
to  the  peasants'  fields  or  for  any  cattle  they  may  dine  on, 
rather  than  to  have  these  interesting  animals  exterminated 
from  his  woods.  He  also  said  that  there  was  a  two  meter 
snowfall  in  Gottschee  in  winter  :  a  sufficient  quantity  to 
account  for  the  glacieres.  At  one  place  on  the  road  we 
stopped  before  a  small  crack  in  the  rocks,  and  Klenka 
dropped  in  some  small  stones,  which  we  could  hear  strike 
two  or  three  times  a  long  distance  below.  There  is  surely 
an  unexplored  cavern  at  this  spot. 

The  Friedrichsteiner  Eishohle  is  a  large  pit  cave,  well 
lighted  by  daylight.  It  is  sheltered  from  any  winds  by 
the  great  trees  which  grow  all  around  it  and  even  over  the 
rock  roof.  A  long,  steep  slope  leads  straight  into  the  pit 
and  from  the  top  the  ice  floor  is  in  full  sight.  On  both 
sides  of  the  slope  the  rocks  are  almost  sheer.  Over  the 
bottom  of  the  slope  the  rock  roof  projects  at  a  great 
height.  The  sides  of  the  cave  rise  perpendicularly  at 
least  forty  meters,  and  in  fact,  the  cave  suggests  an  un- 
finished tunnel  set  on  end. 

Some  years  ago,  the  Deutschen  und  Oesterreichischen 
Alpen  Verein  built  a  wooden  staircase,  in  a  series  of  zig- 
zags, on  the  slope.  This  staircase  should  have  been 
cleared  off  earlier  in  the  year,  but,  of  course,  the  matter 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  53 

was  neglected.  Down  these  steps  we  descended  until  they 
became  covered  with  snow,  and  lower  down  with  hard  ice. 
All  this  was  winter's  snow  which  fell  directly  on  to  the 
slope  and  gradually  melted  and  froze  again,  so  this  was 
really  a  miniature  glacier.  It  was  not  subterranean  ice  at 
all.  We  cut  down  the  snow,  but  had  to  stop  when  we  came 
to  the  ice,  as  it  would  have  involved  a  couple  of  hours  at 
least  of  the  hardest  kind  of  step  cutting ;  and  this  my  guide 
did  not  care  to  undertake,  especially  as  he  was  nearly 
killed  on  this  slope  the  week  before.  He  had  reached, 
with  some  tourists  from  Trieste,  a  place  above  that  where 
we  stopped,  when  he  slipped  and  fell  down  the  slope,  shoot- 
ing clear  across  the  cave,  where  he  remained  until  ropes 
were  procured,  and  he  was  dragged  out.  He  afterwards 
showed  me  the  numerous  cuts  and  bruises  he  had  received 
on  his  perilous  glissade. 

We  had  to  stop  also  for  another  reason.  I  had  un- 
wisely brought  as  wrap,  a  thick  overcoat  reaching  to 
the  knees,  and  this  was  such  an  impediment  on  the  icy 
staircase,  that  I  took  it  off,  and  soon  began  to  feel 
long  shivers  creeping  down  my  spine.  This  question 
of  extra  clothing  for  glaciere  exploration  is  hard  to  ar- 
range. One  must  guard  against  most  trying  changes  of 
temperature.  For,  on  entering  a  big  glaciere,  the  heat 
of  a  July  day  without,  will,  at  a  distance  of  only  a  few 
meters,  give  place  to  the  cold  of  a  January  day  within, 
and  nothing  could  be  better  devised  than  a  big  glaciere 
to  lay  the  seeds  of  rheumatism.  It  is  difficult  to  plan  a 
.garb  suitable  to  meet  all  the  varying  conditions,  but  the 


54          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

dress  must  be  cool  and  warm,  and  light  enough  to  per- 
mit free  motion.  The  clothes  I  have  found  most  practical 
are  a  thin  waistcoat  and  thick  trousers,  and  two  short 
sack  coats,  one  of  them  a  heavy  winter  one.  The  coats 
should  button  at  the  throat,  and  it  is  well  to  place  straps 
round  the  bottom  of  the  trousers.  Thick  kid  gloves 
should  always  be  worn  in  caves,  to  save  cutting  the  hands 
on  rocks  or  ice  in  the  darkness,  and  hobnails  may  pre- 
vent some  unpleasant  slips. 

From  the  point  where  we  stopped,  some  ten  meters 
away  from  the  ice  floor,  the  largest  portion  of  the  cave 
was  visible.  The  finest  object  was  a  big  ice  curtain  or 
vorhang,  as  my  guide  called  it,  which,  from  a  height  of 
five  or  six  meters,  flowed  down  from  fissures  to  the  ice 
floor,  and  which  covered  the  rocks  on  the  eastern  side. 
Under  one  point  of  this  curtain,  Klenka  said  that  there 
was  a  deep  hole  in  the  ice.  Smaller  fissure  columns 
also  streamed  from  the  rear  wall  to  the  ice  floor.  The 
ice  floor  itself  was  flat,  of  an  ochre  greenish  tinge,  and 
was  covered  with  broken  ice  fragments.  We  could  not 
see  the  western  portion  of  the  cavern,  as  the  rocks  jut- 
ted out  in  a  sort  of  corner.  Klenka  said  that  there 
were  several  small  pyramids  there;  a  large  one  which 
he  spoke  of  as  the  Altar ;  and  a  small  ice  slope,  plas- 
tered on  the  side  rocks. 

The  sides  of  the  cave  were  of  a  dark  gray  limestone 
rock,  and  from  the  top  of  the  slope  they  assumed  a  de- 
cidedly bluish  tone,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there 
was  already — we  were  there  from  eight-thirty  A.  M. 


EXPERIENCES   IN    GLACIERES.  55 

until  ten  A.  M. — a  faint  mist  in  the  cavern.  This  is  the 
most  interesting  phenomenon  connected  with  the  Fried- 
richsteiner  Eishohle.  The  cavern  faces  due  south,  and 
about  midday,  in  clear  weather,  the  sun  shines  directly 
into  it,  causing  a  mist  or  cloud  to  form  in  the  cave  on 
warm  days ;  a  mute  witness  that  evaporation  is  connected 
with  the  melting,  not  with  the  forming,  of  the  ice.  The 
air  at  every  point  seemed  still. 

On  my  return  to  Gottschee,  I  called  on  one  of  the 
professors  of  the  K.  K.  Gymnasium,  and  he  told  me 
many  interesting  facts  about  the  surrounding  country. 
Among  other  things  he  said  that  no  traces  of  a  glacial 
period  or  indeed  of  glaciers  were  found  in  the  Krain ; 
and  as  this  district  is  particularly  rich  in  glacieres,  this 
fact  is  a  strong  proof  against  the  glacial  period  theory. 
He  assured  me  also  that  many  bears  still  existed  in  the 
neighborhood ;  that  one  family  was  known  to  inhabit  the 
woods  round  the  Friedrichsteiner  Eishohle,  and  that  he 
had  often  seen  bear  tracks  on  his  own  shooting,  some 
ten  kilometers  to  the  south. 

THE   SUCHENREUTHER    EISLOCH. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1897,  I  left  Gottschee  at  six- 
thirty  A.  M.  in  an  einspdnner,  and  drove  thirteen  kilo- 
meters southward,  over  a  good  road,  albeit  hilly  in 
places,  to  Mrauen,  which  we  reached  in  about  two  hours. 
The  weather  was  exceedingly  hot.  I  took  Klenka  along, 
as  he  spoke  German,  and  he  entertained  me  on  the  drive 
by  telling  me  that  there  were  many  poisonous  snakes  in 


56  GLACIERES    OR    FREEZING    CAVERNS. 

the  country,  of  which  the  kreuzotters  or  vipers  were  the 
worst,  and  that  three  or  four  persons  were  bitten  every 
year. 

Mrauen  is  in  Croatia,  and  I  could  see  a  slight  differ- 
ence in  the  people  and  their  dress  from  those  of  Gott- 
schee.  From  Mrauen,  the  landlord  of  the  Gasthaus  Post, 
Josef  Sirar,  led  us  to  the  Grosses  Eisloch.  This  is 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  Eisloch  bei  Skrill,  but  as  it 
lies  in  a  patch  of  woods  below  the  village  of  Suchenreuth, 
the  Suchenreuther  Eisloch  seems  the  correct  name.  At 
least  that  was  what  Sirar  called  it.  It  took  us  about  an 
hour  on  foot  from  Mrauen  to  get  into  the  woods.  On 
the  way  we  met  two  guards  in  uniform,  carrying  Mann- 
licher  carbines  with  fixed  bayonets,  and  it  was  agree- 
able to  feel  that  the  strong  arm  of  the  Austrian  govern- 
ment extended  over  this  semi-wild  land.  In  the  woods, 
following  Sirar' s  able  guidance,  we  took  a  short  cut — 
always  a  mistake — and  were  lost  temporarily  in  a  maze 
of  bushes  and  brambles,  in  which  I  thought  of  the  kreuz- 
otters. After  that,  Sirar  at  first  could  not  find  the  cave 
and  had  to  hunt  around  for  it,  while  I  sat  on  a  stone  and 
waited  impatiently. 

At  the  cave  a  rather  steep  slope  of  wet  mud,  cov- 
ered with  dead  leaves,  led  down  through  a  rock  arch. 
Sirar  had  to  cut  several  steps  in  the  mud  with  his 
hatchet,  or  we  should  probably  have  sat  down  suddenly. 
The  archway  opened  into  a  moderately  large  cavern, 
which  was  about  twenty  meters  deep,  almost  round  and 
some  fifteen  meters  in  diameter.  The  slope  continued 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES. 


57 


right  across  the  cave,  and  on  some  parts  of  it  were  logs 
of  wood  and  much  debris.  On  the  wall  hung  a  few 
limestone  stalactites.  In  the  roof  of  the  cave  was  a 
great  hole,  and  under  this  was  a  big  cone  of  old  winter 
snow,  which  had  become  icy  in  its  consistency,  and  on 
which  there  was  much  dirt  and  many  leaves.  The  tem- 


FIG.  6.  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  SUCHENREUTHER  EISLOCH. 

perature  in  the  cave  was  several  degrees  above  freezing 
point,  and  there  was  no  ice  hanging  anywhere.  Sirar 
said  that  when  the  weather  got  hotter,  the  ice  would  come ; 
but  as  he  said  also,  that  he  had  been  only  once  before 
in  the  cave,  some  ten  years  ago,  his  opinion  was  not 
worth  much.  Both  men  said  that  the  preceding  winter 
was  unusually  warm. 

THE  NIXLOCH. 

Near  Hallthurm  in  Bavaria,  a  railroad  station  between 
Reichenhall  and  Berchtesgaden,  is  a  well  known  con- 
geries of  windholes,  called  the  Nixloch.  I  visited  it 


58          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

on  Friday,  July  the  2d,  1897,  with  a  railroad  employee, 
whom  I  found  at  the  peasants'  gasthaus. 

The  Nixloch  is  ten  minutes  distant  in  the  forest,  on 
the  slopes  of  the  Untersberg.  It  is  among  a  mass  of 
big  limestone  blocks,  and  close  by  are  the  remains  of 
the  walls  of  an  old  castle  or  fortification.  The  Nixloch 
descends  from  the  entrance  for  about  two  meters  nearly 
sheer,  and  there  is  just  room  to  get  through.  As  I  sat 
within  the  outside  edge  of  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  the 
smoke  of  my  cigar  was  slowly  carried  downward  into  it. 

Dropping  down  through  the  hole,  we  found  ourselves 
in  a  small  cavern  formed  of  rough  limestone  blocks  over- 
head and  underfoot.  It  is  possible  to  go  still  further 
down  and  my  companion  said  that  formerly  it  was  pos- 
sible to  go  through  the  cave  and  come  out  at  a  lower 
opening;  this  exit,  however,  was  destroyed  when  the 
railroad  was  built.  The  draught,  as  tested  by  the  flame 
of  a  candle,  was  still  drawing  in  some  seven  or  eight 
meters  from  the  entrance.  There  is  a  second  cavity 
immediately  next  to  the  entrance,  and  at  the  bottom 
of  these  holes,  the  inward  draught  was  so  violent  as  to 
blow  the  candle  out.  The  thermometer  outside  in  the 
shade  was  28°  C. ;  inside  the  cave,  where  the  draught 
was  still  perceptible,  it  was  about  20°  C.  Within  the 
cave  I  noticed  two  large,  dark  brown  spiders. 

On  returning  to  the  gasthaus,  I  had  a  talk  with  some 
peasants  who  were  dining  there,  and  they  told  me  that 
it  was  warm  in  winter  in  the  Nixloch,  and  that  ice  never 
formed  there. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.^,,,,.,,,.^  59 

""   OFT**    '^N 
THE  DORNBURG.     V11 

,AC 

If  one  draws  a  line  northeast  from  Coblentz  and 
another  northwest  from  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  they  will 
intersect  nearly  at  the  Dornburg.  The  railroad  from 
Frankfort  goes,  via  Limburg  and  Hadamar,  to  Frickhofen 
and  Wilsenroth,  from  either  of  which  villages  the  ice 
formations  of  the  Dornburg  are  easily  reached  on  foot 
in  half  an  hour. 

I  arrived  at  Wilsenroth  on  the  26th  of  July,  1897, 
and  soon  found  an  old  forester,  who  said  he  had  lived 
in  the  neighborhood  for  over  fifty  years,  to  show  me  the 
way.  The  Dornburg  is  a  low  hill,  perhaps  a  hundred 
meters  high  and  a  kilometer  long.  It  is  basaltic  and 
covered  with  sparse  woods.  The  forester  said  that  on 
top  were  the  remains  of  the  foundations  of  an  old  castle, 
and  that  this  was  possibly  the  origin '  of  the  name  Dorn- 
burg. We  circled  round  the  eastern  base  of  the  hill  for 
some  ten  minutes,  when  we  came  to  a  little  depression, 
filled  with  basalt  debris,  among  which  were  several  small 
holes,  out  of  which  came  currents  of  cool  air. 

Ten  minutes  further  in  the  woods,  we  arrived  at  the 
Dornburg  Restauration  and  then  almost  immediately  at 
the  glaciere.  It  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  talus  of  broken  ba- 
saltic rocks  and  has  been  much  affected  by  the  agency  of 
man.  In  it  are  two  eislocher  or  stollen,  as  the  forester 
called  them.  These  are  little  artificial  pits  or  cellars,  dug 
into  the  talus.  They  are  side  by  side,  opening  about 
southeast,  and  each  is  about  one  and  a  half  meters  wide, 


60  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

three  meters  long,  and  two  meters  high.  The  sides  are 
built  up  with  wooden  posts  and  overhead  is  a  thick  roof 
of  logs  strewn  with  dirt.  The  day  was  cool  and  at  the 
mouth  of  each  eisloch,  a  faint  outward  current  of  air  was 
discernible  at  nine-thirty  A.  M.  I  could  not  find  any  cur- 
rents coming  into  the  eislocher.  Inside  it  was  cold  and 
damp,  and  evidently  thawing.  There  was  a  good  heap  of 
ice  in  each  eisloch  ;  it  was  clear,  and  I  could  detect  no  trace 
of  prisms. 

By  much  questioning,  I  dug  out  something  of  the  his- 
tory of  these  stollen  from  the  forester.  Formerly  the  ice 
was  found  at  this  spot,  among  the  boulders  at  the  base  of 
the  slope.  But  the  people  gradually  took  many  of  these 
basaltic  blocks  away,  to  break  up  for  road  making,  and 
then  the  ice  diminished.  About  1870,  a  brewery,  since 
burnt,  was  built  at  the  Dornburg  and  the  brewer  had 
these  stollen  built,  a  sort  of  semi-natural,  semi-artificial  ice 
house.  Every  winter,  the  present  owner  of  the  stollen 
throws  a  quantity  of  snow  into  them,  and  this  helps  ma- 
terially in  forming  the  mass  of  ice. 

Just  below  the  restaurant  there  is  a  spring,  which  was 
said  to  be  extremely  cold,  but  there  was  nothing  icy  nor 
apparently  unusual  about  it. 

Under  the  restaurant  itself  is  an  interesting  cellar.  It 
was  closed  by  wooden  doors.  First  there  was  a  passage 
way  which  turned  steadily  to  the  right,  and  which  we  de- 
scended by  some  ten  steps.  This  was  about  two  meters 
wide  and  was  full  of  beer  bottles  and  vegetables.  On 
the  left  of  the  passage  was  a  large  double  chamber  where 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  6 1 

meat  is  kept.  At  eleven-thirty  A.  M.  a  faint  draught  blew 
down  the  passage  and  into  the  hall,  the  outside  door  being 
then  open.  The  double  hall  was  perhaps  six  meters  each 
way,  and  I  could  detect  no  air  currents  coming  into  it  at 
any  place,  except  from  the  passage  way.  Both  passage 
and  halls  were,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  entirely  built  over 
with  masonry.  There  was  no  ice  and  the  temperature 
was  some  7°  or  8°  above  freezing  point. 

The  daughter  of  the  proprietor  of  the  restaurant  said 
that  ice  began  to  form  in  the  cellar  in  February  and  that 
it  lasted  generally  until  October;  but  that  this  year  it 
was  destroyed  early  because  the  masonry  was  repaired, 
although  it  was  still  possible  to  skate  in  the  cellar  as  late 
as  March.  In  the  beginning  of  winter  the  cellar  was  warm, 
and  as  she  expressed  it,  der  Keller  schwitzt  dann,  which 
I  suppose  means  that  the  walls  are  damp.  She  also 
said  that  it  was  a  naturlicher  Keller,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  it  was  a  natural  glaciere,  converted  into  a 
cellar. 

This  visit  to  the  Dornburg  gave  me  many  new  ideas 
about  classifying  glacieres,  especially  in  relation  to  the 
movements  of  air.  I  was  long  puzzled  by  the  German 
terms,  Eishohlen  and  Windrbhren;  and  it  suddenly  struck 
me,  at  the  Dornburg,  that  this  terminology  is  incorrect, 
when  used  as  a  classification  of  glacieres.  The  presence 
or  absence  of  strong,  apparent  draughts,  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  a  test  as  to  whether  a  place  is  or  is  not  a 
glaciere ;  the  presence  of  ice,  for  at  least  part  of  the 
year,  alone  makes  a  glaciere,  and  this  it  does  whether 


62  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

there  are  or  are  not  draughts.  It  seems  to  me  more 
than  ever  clear,  however,  that  it  all  depends  on  the 
movements  of  air,  as  to  whether  ice  forms  in  a  cave.  If 
the  movements  of  air  take  the  cold  air  of  winter  into  a 
cave,  then  and  then  only — provided  there  is  also  a  water 
supply — do  we  have  ice.  I  am  now  inclined  to  think 
that  caves,  as  far  as  their  temperatures  are  concerned, 
should  be  classified  into  caves  containing  ice,  cold  caves, 
ordinary  normal  caves,  and  hot  caves,  without  reference 
to  the  movements  of  air. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  SAINT-GEORGES. 

From  Rolle,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Lake  of 
Geneva,  an  excellent  carriage  road  leads  in  two  hours 
and  a  half  to  Saint-Georges  in  the  Jura.  At  first  the  way 
goes  steeply  uphill  and  passes  through  many  vineyards, 
and  afterwards  it  crosses  level  fields  to  Gimel,  then  rises 
through  woods  to  Saint-Georges.  On  arriving  there  on 
the  afternoon  of  August  3d,  1897,  I  found  the  street 
filled  with  evergreens,  and  long  benches  and  tables;  the 
debris  of  a  fete  de  tir,  which  had  lasted  for  two  days, 
with  dancing  and  banquets  and,  I  suspect,  much  vin  du 
pays. 

When  I  got  down  stairs  at  six  o'clock  next  morning, 
all  the  people  of  the  inn  were  sound  asleep  recovering 
from  the  effects  of  the  fete,  and  instead  of  their  calling 
me,  I  had  to  call  them.  Finally  I  succeeded  in  getting 
breakfast  and  then  started  in  company  with  a  first  rate 
fellow,  named  Aymon  Emery. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  63 

We  walked  up  through  woods,  in  about  an  hour  and  a 
half,  to  the  Glaciere  de  Saint-Georges,  which  lies  at  an 
altitude  of  1287  meters  in  the  midst  of  the  forest.  There 
are  two  holes  close  together.  One  of  these  descends 
vertically  and  is  partly  roofed  over  with  logs  on  which  is 
rigged  a  pulley.  Emery,  who  was  the  entrepreneur  of  the 
glaciere,  which  means  that  he  attended  to  getting  out  the 
ice,  told  me  that  they  pulled  the  ice  up  through  this 
vertical  hole,  making  a  noose  with  a  rope  round  each 
block. 

The  other  and  shallower  opening  ended  in  a  rock 
floor,  which  was  reached  by  a  short  ladder.  To  the  right 
was  an  arch,  under  which  the  rock  terminated  as  a  floor 
and  descended  vertically,  forming  the  wall  of  the  cave. 
On  this  wall  two  ladders,  spliced  at  the  end  into  one 
long  ladder,  were  placed  in  a  nearly  vertical  position.  I 
tied  the  end  of  my  rope  round  my  waist,  and  got  a  work- 
man, who  had  come  to  cut  ice,  to  pay  out  the  rope  to  me, 
while  I  went  down. 

The  cave  is  rather  long  and  narrow,  perhaps  twenty- 
five  meters  by  twelve  meters,  and  the  limestone  roof 
forms  an  arched  descending  curve  overhead.  I  could  not 
see  any  limestone  stalactites ;  neither  were  there  any  ice 
stalactites  or  stalagmites  in  the  cave,  but  a  good  part  of 
the  wall,  against  which  the  long  ladder  was  placed,  was 
covered  by  an  ice  curtain.  It  was  thin  and  had  evidently 
been  damaged  by  the  ice  cutters  or  I  think  it  would  have 
covered  the  entire  lower  portion  of  the  wall. 

The  base  of  the  long  ladder  rested  on  an  ice  floor 


64          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

which  filled  the  bottom  of  the  cave,  and  which  would 
probably  have  been  level  if  it  had  not  been  cut  out  here 
and  there  in  places,  leaving  many  holes.  A  good  many 
broken  ice  fragments  lay  on  the  floor  and  in  some  of 
the  holes  were  pools  of  water.  Some  of  the  floor  ice 


FIG.  7.   VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  GLACIERE  DE  SAINT-GEORGES. 

was  exceedingly  prismatic  in  character,  and  I  was  able  to 
flake  it  off  or  break  it  easily  with  my  hands  into  prisms. 

Under  the  vertical  shaft,  which  is  at  one  end  of  the 
cave,  was  a  mass  of  winter's  snow  which  had  fallen 
through  the  opening.  Under  this  snow  was  a  deep  hole, 
which  I  believe  was  the  drain  hole  of  the  glaciere  before 
the  ice  floor  was  cut  away  to  a  level  below  its  mouth. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  65 

Into  this  hole  I  threw  lumps  of  ice  and  heard  them  go 
bumping  down  for  three  or  four  seconds. 

The  atmosphere  was  not  uncomfortable,  although  the 
temperature  was  about  7°  C.  The  air  did  not  feel  damp, 
and  seemed  almost  still,  but  standing  on  the  ice  floor 
nearly  under  the  vertical  hole,  I  found  that  the  smoke 
from  my  cigar  ascended  rapidly,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
there  were  a  rising  air  current,  which  sucked  up  the 
smoke. 

Saint-Georges  is  a  fine  cavern  and  well  worth  visiting. 
Emery  said  that  the  ice  was  not  cut  out  for  eight  years 
preceding  the  summer  of  1897,  and  that  for  several  years 
it  was  not  possible  to  go  down  at  all,  as  there  were  no 
ladders,  until  he  put  in  the  two  we  utilized.5  All  the 
natives  of  Saint-Georges  believed  that  the  ice  was  a 
summer  formation  and  that  it  was  warm  in  the  cave  in 
winter. 

THE  GLACIERE  DU  PRE  DE  SAINT-LIVRES. 

From  the  Glaciere  de  Saint-Georges,  Emery  and  I 
pushed  on  through  the  woods  to  the  Pre  de  Saint-Livres. 
In  several  places  we  came  on  the  tracks  of  deer,  and  my 
guide  told  me  he  had  killed  eleven  roe  during  the  last 
hunting  season.  He  said  also  that  an  attempt  is  being 

5  In  the  illustration  of  the  Glaciere  de  Saint-Georges,  the  opening 
to  the  left  is  the  vertical  pit,  through  which  the  ice  is  taken  out :  under- 
neath it,  is  the  heap  of  winter  snow.  The  man  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  picture  is  standing  on  the  rock  shelf  at  the  base  of  the  upper 
ladder  and  at  the  top  of  the  lower  ladder.  To  the  right  of  the  lower 
ladder  near  the  bottom,  a  bit  of  the  ice  curtain  is  visible. 


66  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

made  to  introduce  the  red  deer  into  the  Jura,  and  that 
the  experiment  seemed  to  be  meeting  with  success.  We 
kept  to  the  crest  of  the  ridge  along  wood  paths,  and,  as 
the  day  was  fortunately  cool  and  cloudy,  we  were  able  to 
walk  fast  and  reached  the  Pre  de  Saint-Livres  in  two 
hours.  At  a  spot  called  La  Foiraudaz  we  met  the  work- 
men coming  down  with  a  cartload  of  ice,  which  they 
were  taking  to  Biere.  Some  of  this  ice  was  extremely 
prismatic. 

The  Pre  de  Saint-Livres  is  a  big  mountain  pasture  or 
meadow,  surrounded  with  hills  covered  with  pine  trees. 
In  the  middle  of  it  is  the  Chalet  de  Saint-Livres,  round 
which  numerous  cows  and  calves  were  congregated  and 
where  a  small  shepherd  gave  us  some  milk.  The  chalet 
is  not  one  of  the  old  picturesque  Swiss  chalets  with  great 
stones  on  the  roof  to  keep  it  from  being  blown  away  by 
the  wind,  but  a  strongly  built  single  storied  stone 
structure,  which  looks  extremely  modern  among  the  green 
hills. 

The  glaciere  lies  close  to  the  chalet,  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  meadows,  just  on  the  edge  of  the  woods,  and 
is  surrounded  with  trees.  It  is  at  an  altitude  of  1362 
meters  and  faces  nearly  due  north.  To  prevent  the  cattle 
from  falling  in,  it  is  enclosed  with  a  stone  wall,  except  in 
front,  where  there  is  a  fence  formed  of  an  abattis  of 
pine  trees.  The  cave  belongs  to  the  pit  variety,  and  the 
pit  is  a  big  one.  As  you  stand  at  the  top,  you  can  look 
down  to  the  end  of  the  glaciere.  The  rocks  are  vertical 
all  round  the  pit,  and  in  front  there  is  a  small  rock 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  67 

shelf,  one-third  of  the  way  down,  which  divides  the  rock 
wall  into  two  long  drops.  Against  each  of  these  was  a 
rickety  ladder,  so  we  fixed  the  end  of  my  rope  to  the  pine 
trees  of  the  fence,  and  hung  on  to  it  while  we  climbed 
down.  The  base  of  the  lower  and  longer  ladder  rested 
on  a  mass  of  snow.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long 
snow  slope  which  gradually  turned  to  ice  and  filled  the 
cave.  The  cave  itself,  measuring  along  the  snow  slope, 
is  some  forty  meters  long  and  some  ten  to  fifteen  meters 
wide,  and  is  entirely  lighted  by  daylight. 

The  snow  and  ice  slope  fell  in  a  series  of  small  waves, 
and  the  upper  portion  was  rather  dirty.  On  the  right 
hand  the  workmen  had  fixed  a  rope  as  a  handrail,  and  all 
the  way  down  had  cut  a  staircase  in  the  ice,  so  that  the 
descent  was  not  difficult.  Some  of  the  ice  was  sloppy. 
The  ice  mass  did  not  abut  entirely  against  the  end  of  the 
cave,  but  left  an  open  space  between  the  ice  and  the  rock, 
some  three  or  four  meters  wide  and  some  four  or  five 
meters  deep.  Here  the  workmen  had  been  getting  their 
ice,  and  had  cut  into  the  ice  mass  for  several  meters, 
forming  a  little  tunnel. 

There  were  no  ice  cones  nor  stalactites,  neither  did  I 
see  any  limestone  stalactites.  Much  of  the  ice  was  pris- 
matic ;  in  fact,  together  with  that  at  Saint-Georges,  it 
was  the  most  strongly  prismatic  I  have  seen.  I  can  per- 
haps best  describe  it,  by  saying  that  it  was  brittle  in 
texture,  as  I  could  break  up  small  lumps  in  my  hands. 
There  was  more  prismatic  ice  at  Saint-Livres,  however, 
than  at  Saint-Georges.  The  air  in  the  cave  was  still 


68  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  decidedly  damp ;  and  the  temperature  was  several 
degrees  above  freezing  point.  The  day,  however,  was 
almost  windless,  and  I  would  not  assert  that  movements 
of  air,  due  to  the  wind,  might  not  sometimes  take  place 
in  the  pit. 

The  Glaciere  du  Pre  de  Saint-Livres  is  one  of  those 
caves  which  may  be  looked  on  as  a  transitional  form 
between  gorges  containing  ice  and  caves  containing  ice. 
The  winter  snow  falls  into  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and 
is  the  chief  foundation  of  the  ice  mass.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  make  a  series  of  observations  in  this  cave 
to  see  whether  there  was  anything  like  glacier  motion. 
Emery,  of  his  own  accord,  expressed  the  opinion  that 
much  of  the  ice  here  was  due  to  the  winter  snows ;  in 
fact,  he  thought  that  it  was  all  due  to  it,  and  that  it 
gradually  descended  into  the  cave  and  turned,  little  by 
little,  into  ice.  He  told  me  that  some  years  ago  a  cow 
was  found  by  the  workmen,  frozen  into  the  ice,  at  a  depth 
of  four  meters ;  the  flesh  was  perfectly  preserved,  and  was 
eaten.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  seen  insects  in  either 
cave,  and  he  said  he  had  not. 

From  the  glaciere  we  walked  back  to  the  village 
of  Saint-Georges.  On  asking  my  guide  how  much  I 
owed  him,  he  said  he  received  four  francs  for  a  journee, 
so  I  gave  him  six  francs,  and  we  parted  the  best  of  friends. 

GLACIER  ICE  CAVE  IN  THE  FEE  GLACIER. 

During  a  rather  protracted  stay  at  Saas-Fee  in  Switzer- 
land, I  visited  the  glacier  ice  cave  of  the  Fee  Glacier  on 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  69 

the   1 5th  and  i6th  of  August,  1897,  both  cool  and  rainy 
days.     It  is  about  half  an  hour's  walk  from  the  hotel  to 
the   ice  cave,  which  is  in  the   snout  of  the  Fee  glacier, 
below  the  Eggfluh.     A  considerable  stream  issued  from 
the  cave.      On  nearing   the  opening,  a   strong   cold   air 
current  poured  out  above  the  stream.     At  the  front  edge 
of  the  ice,  the  height  of  the  ice  roof  in  the  centre  was 
perhaps    twelve    meters    and    the   width    fifteen    meters. 
Around   the    edge,    the    roof  formed   an    almost   perfect 
curve.      The   ice  walls  contracted   in   a   regular   manner 
within,  and  the   cave   became  narrower   and   lower,  and 
suggested   an  enormous   funnel    cut   in   half,  into  which 
you  looked  from  the  larger   end.     The    cave  also  grew 
gradually   darker,    and    the    darkness    prevented    seeing 
further  than  to  a  depth  of  some  fifteen  meters.     In  the  ice 
walls,  just  inside  the  entrance,  were  several  crevasses,  of 
the  ordinary  blue-green  color.      They  followed  nearly  the 
same  curve  as  the  roof,  but  did  not  go  through  to  the 
outside.      There    were    no   icicles.     The    ice    was    faintly 
stratified  in  places,  and  at  the  outer  edge  was  brittle.     It 
did  not  break  into  the  long  narrow  prisms  of  the  ice  at 
Saint-Georges  and  the  Pre  de  Saint-Livres,  but  rather  into 
small  lumps  with  facets,   of  all   sorts  of  shapes.     It  was 
evidently  unsafe  to  penetrate  under  the  ice  roof,  for  while 
I  stood  in  front  of  the  cave,  a  large  lump  broke  off  from 
the  roof  and  fell  with  a  clatter  among  a  lot  of  other  ice 
fragments  already  on  the  moraine  floor.      In  two  places 
there  was  a  steady  rain  of  drops   from  the   roof,  show- 
ing that  the  ice  was  melting. 


7O  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

This  is  perhaps  the  glacier  cave  in  Switzerland  which 
is  easiest  to  visit,  and  my  inspection  intensified  my  be- 
lief in  what  I  consider  the  correct  explanation  of  some  of 
the  phenomena  in  glacieres.  The  suggestion  was  that  as 
soon  as  the  temperature  gets  above  freezing  point  in  a 
glacier  ice  cave,  the  only  process  is  that  of  destruction  of 
the  ice,  which  seems  to  be  also  the  case  with  glacieres. 

LA  GRAND  CAVE  DE  MONTARQUIS. 

My  brother  and  I  left  Cluses,  in  Savoie,  a  railroad 
station  on  the  line  between  Geneva  and  Chamonix,  at 
two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  226.  of  August, 
1897,  and  drove  up  in  two  hours  and  a  half  to 
Pralong  du  Reposoir,  a  distance  of  eleven  kilometers. 
The  road  is  a  route  nationale,  fine  and  broad,  with  para- 
pets in  many  places.  After  passing  Scionzier,  it  mounts 
gradually,  passing  through  a  tremendous  wild  gorge,  cut 
by  the  waters  and  heavily  clad  with  firs.  We  reached 
Pralong  at  four-thirty,  and  stopped  at  a  primitive  inn,  still 
in  process  of  construction,  and  tenanted  only  by  blue- 
bloused  peasants,  who,  as  it  was  Sunday  night,  sat  up 
late,  drinking  and  making  a  heathenish  noise  they  mistook 
for  singing.  I  talked  to  some  of  these  men,  and  they  all 
insisted  that  there  was  no  ice  at  the  Grand  Cave  in 
winter,  but  that  it  came  in  summer.  Plus  il  fait  chaud, 
plus  fa  gele,  they  said.  One  man  explained  the  forma- 
tion of  the  ice  in  an  original  way,  and  with  an  intelligence 
far  above  that  of  the  average  peasant.  He  considered 
that  it  was  due  to  air  currents,  and  thought  that  in  winter 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  71 

the  snow  stopped  up  the  holes  in  the  rocks,  through  which 
the  currents  came ;  but  that  when  the  snow  melted,  the 
draughts  could  work,  and  that  then  they  formed  the  ice. 

The  weather  was  abominable  next  morning,  the  clouds 
lying  along  and  dripping  into  the  valley ;  but  the  inn  was 
so  awful  that  we  decided  to  try  to  reach  the  cave.  We  had 
a  nice  little  blue-bloused  peasant  for  a  guide,  Sylvain  Jean 
Cotterlaz  by  name.  We  went  first  for  about  an  hour  on 
foot  towards  Le  Grand  Bornant  on  a  fair  road,  to  an  alp 
called  La  Salle.  This  was  surrounded  by  a  herd  of  cows, 
some  of  whom  seemed  interested  in  our  party.  It  now 
began  to  rain  fiercely,  and  except  for  my  brother's  perse- 
verance, I  should  certainly  have  given  in.  A  fair  path  led 
up  steep  grass  slopes  into  the  clouds  covering  the  Mont 
Bargy.  Each  of  us  had  his  umbrella  raised,  and  the  ascent 
was  slippery  and  uninspiring.  An  hour  took  us  to  two 
deserted  huts,  the  Alpe  Montarquis,  and  half  an  hour 
beyond,  we  came  to  the  caves ;  by  which  time  we  were 
thoroughly  soaked. 

The  caves  are  on  Mont  Bargy,  at  the  base  of  a  lime- 
stone precipice,  which,  I  think,  faces  nearly  north.  There 
are  three  caves  close  together.  The  lowest,  or  Petite 
Cave  de  Montarquis,  Cotterlaz  said  is  also  called  La  Cave 
des  Faux-Monayeurs ;  as  according  to  a,  probably  untrue, 
tradition,  it  was  once  used  by  counterfeiters.  Above  this 
is  a  small  rock  pocket,  accessible  down  an  easy  slope. 
We  went  in  and  found  that  there  was  no  ice  and  indeed 
scarcely  any  water  in  it. 

The  Grand — not  Grande — Cave  is  a  little  higher  up, 


72  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  as  we  came  to  it,  several  sheep,  which  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  mouth  from  the  storm,  hastily  skipped  away, 
evidently  distrusting  our  intentions.  The  altitude  of  the 
cave  is  said  to  be  2078  meters.  The  entrance  must  face 
about  north  east;  it  is  elliptical  in  shape,  about  fifteen 
meters  wide,  and  six  meters  high,  and  is  badly  sheltered 
against  the  wind.  The  cave  is  of  moderate  size,  about 
sixty  meters  in  length  and  forty-five  meters  in  width,  and 
the  average  height  of  the  roof  is  not  over  four  or  five 
meters.  A  gentle  slope  leads  downwards.  Many  blocks 


Ztefc^  /uuuuu 

^•n 


FIG.  8.    VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  GRAND  CAVE  DE  MONTARQUIS. 

of  rock  in  the  front  part  had  bits  of  moss  growing  on 
them,  and  some  of  the  mud  there  was  of  a  dull  purple 
color,  as  if  some  dark  madder  was  mixed  with  it.  There 
was  a  red  streak  in  the  right  hand  wall,  probably  caused 
by  iron.  I  observed  no  limestone  stalactites  nor  stal- 
agmites in  the  cave,  the  main  body  of  which  was  well 
lighted  throughout  by  daylight. 

The  ice  was  in  the  shape  of  a  nearly  level  floor,  about 
twelve  meters  long  and  eight  meters  wide :  the  shape 
was  irregular,  and  the  ice  so  smooth  that  it  was  hard 
to  stand  up.  The  rocks  in  the  rear  overhung  the  ice 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  73 

floor  at  one  spot ;  and  here,  there  streamed  from  a  fis- 
sure to  the  ice  floor  an  ice  column,  some  three  meters 
high,  whose  base  was  fully  two  meters  distant  from  the 
rock  wall.  Near  this  column  was  a  tiny  ice  cone,  which 
evidently  had  been  bigger.  Cotterlaz  seemed  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  there  was  only  one  column  in  the 
cave,  as  he  said  that  in  June,  there  would  have  been 
many  columns  and  a  larger  and  deeper  ice  floor.  The 
ice  was  sloppy  in  places,  with  several  small  hollows  cut  by 
the  drip  and  containing  water.  In  one  place  there  was 
a  tiny  runnel  filled  with  water,  but  there  was  no  current. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  drip  all  through  the  cave,  and 
in  fact  in  one  or  two  places  we  might  have  kept  on  hold- 
ing up  our  umbrellas  with  advantage.  I  hacked  at  several 
pieces  of  ice,  but  none  of  it  was  prismatic. 

At  the  rear  of  the  cave,  the  ice  ran,  in  a  tongue,  up 
the  entrance  of  an  ascending  fissure  in  the  rocks.  My 
brother  cut  here  six  or  seven  steps  in  the  ice  ;  and  he 
found  them  difficult  to  make,  as  the  ice  was  hard  and  thin, 
and  not  in  a  melting  state.  Above  the  ice  tongue  we 
clambered  up  the  rocks  of  the  fissure  some  four  or  five 
meters  further,  finding  there  some  lumps  of  ice  which  were 
not  melting.  At  this  spot  we  were  almost  in  darkness.  A 
lighted  match  burned  steadily,  so  that  there  was  evidently 
not  much  draught,  but  the  smoke  gradually  descended, 
showing  a  slight  downward  current.  This  was  the  coldest, 
as  well  as  the  furthest  point  of  the  cave  we  could  reach, 
and  we  there  heard  a  tiny  waterfall  trickling  within  the 
fissure,  although  we  could  not  see  it. 


74  GLACIERES    OR    FREEZING    CAVERNS. 

By  this  time  we  were  all  chilled  to  the  bone,  so, 
abandoning  the  idea  of  entering  the  Petite  Cave,  we  re- 
treated down  the  sopping  wet,  slippery  grass  slopes  to 
Pralong,  and  then  immediately  walked  all  the  way  to 
Cluses  to  avoid  taking  cold.  The  Grand  Cave  was  the 
most  fatiguing  trip  I  ever  made  after  glacieres,  but  the 
circumstances  were  rather  unusual. 

THE  FREEZING  WELL   OF  OWEGO. 

On  Thursday,  June  23d,  1898,  I  went  to  Owego,  in 
Tioga  County,  New  York.  Inquiries  at  the  Lehigh 
Valley  railroad  station  and  at  the  chief  hotel  failed  to 
elicit  any  information  about  a  freezing  well ;  and  in  fact, 
I  soon  found  that  the  existence  of  such  a  thing  was  a 
blank  to  the  rising  generation.  So  I  called  on  an  old 
resident  of  Owego,  who  told  me  that  he  knew  of  the 
well  in  question  and  that  it  was  filled  up  with  stones 
many  years  ago ;  but  that  he  remembered  that,  when  he 
was  a  boy,  it  used  to  freeze,  and  that  it  was  spoken  of  as 
the  deep  well  or  freezing  well.  I  then  walked  up  to  the 
site  of  the  well,  which  is  about  one  and  a  half  kilometers 
to  the  northwest  from  the  centre  of  Owego  and  about  one 
kilometer  from  the  Susquehanna  River.  It  is  directly  in 
the  middle  of  the  highway,  and  nothing  is  now  visible  but 
a  heap  of  stones. 

Near  by  was  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Preston,  who  told  me 
he  was  born  in  1816,  and  had  lived  all  his  life  at  this  spot. 
He  said  that  the  well  was  about  twenty-eight  meters  deep, 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  75 

and  that  it  went  first  through  a  layer  of  sand  and  then 
through  a  layer  of  gravel.  He  had  more  than  once  been 
down  the  well  and  had  seen  the  sides  covered  with  ice. 
A  bucket  sent  down  for  water  would  sometimes  come  up 
with  ice  on  the  sides.  Whether  the  water  at  the  bottom 
ever  froze,  no  one  knew,  for  the  ice  caked  and  filled  up 
the  bore  at  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  down  and  became 
so  thick,  that  as  Mr.  Preston  put  it,  "  it  was  just  like 
hammering  on  an  anvil  to  try  to  break  it."  He  also 
stated  that  another  well  was  dug  about  one  hundred 
meters  further  down  the  road,  and  that  originally  this 
sometimes  had  a  little  ice  on  the  sides.  Of  late  years 
however,  it  was  covered  over  with  a  wooden  top  and  since 
then  no  ice  was  known  to  form.  I  could  obtain  no  in- 
formation about  any  other  wells  in  the  neighborhood 
ever  showing  similar  peculiarities. 

THE  ICY  GLEN,  NEAR  STOCKBRIDGE. 

The  Icy  Glen  is  situated  on  Bear  Mountain,  about 
one  kilometer  from  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts.  It  is  in 
the  midst  of  fine  woods  and  there  are  many  big  trees  in 
it.  The  bottom  of  the  glen  is  full  of  rocks  and  boulders, 
among  which  there  is  a  rough  path.  I  was  told  that  ice 
remained  over  there  much  longer  than  anywhere  else  in 
the  neighborhood,  sometimes  as  late  as  May.  On  the  3d 
of  July,  1898,  I  not  only  found  no  traces  of  ice  or  snow, 
but  the  temperatures  under  the  boulders  showed  nothing 
abnormal.  To  make  up  for  this,  however,  there  were 
legions  of  mosquitoes. 


76  GLACIERES    OR    FREEZING    CAVERNS. 

FREEZING  MARBLE  CAVE,   NEAR   MANCHESTER. 

Near  Manchester,  Vermont,  there  is  a  little  cave,6 
which  is  noteworthy,  in  that  it  is  in  a  marble  formation.  It 
is  known  as  Skinner's  Cave,  because  it  was  owned  for 
many  years  by  Mr.  Mark  Skinner.  It  lies  in  Skinner's 
Hollow,  some  five  or  six  kilometers  from  the  centre  of 
Manchester,  at  the  base  of  the  eastern  slope  of  Mount 
Equinox,  of  the  Taghconic  Range  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains. 

The  cave  is  on  the  property  of  Mr.  N.  M.  Canfield, 
who,  on  learning  the  object  of  my  visit,  on  the  5th  of 
July,  1898,  with  true  native  American  courtesy,  walked 
up  to  it  with  me.  The  last  two  kilometers  were  over  a 
rough  logging  road,  which  towards  the  end  was  steep 
and  covered  with  many  broken  logs.  I  could  not  have 
found  the  cave  alone,  as  it  was  so  surrounded  with 
bushes,  that  the  entrance  was  invisible  until  we  actually 
reached  it.  It  is  in  a  gorge  of  Mount  Equinox,  in  the 
midst  of  a  beautiful  forest,  which  effectually  cuts  off  any 
wind.  The  cave  faces  nearly  north  and  can  scarcely 
ever,  if  indeed  at  any  time,  be  reached  by  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  The  moment  we  got  into  the  entrance,  we  found 
the  chilly,  damp,  summer  atmosphere  of  true  glaciere 
caves.  The  rocks  were  brown  and  mossy  on  the  out- 
side, but  Mr.  Canfield  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that 

6  My  attention  was  called  to  this  cave,  by  Messrs.  John  Ritchie,  Jr. , 
of  Boston,  and  Byerly  Hart  of  Philadelphia,  who  visited  it  some  years 
ago.  Mr.  Ritchie's  opinion  is  that  it  is  simply  a  refrigerator. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  77 

they  were  marble,  and  on  his  knocking  off  a  small  piece, 
a  section  of  pure  white  marble  was  exposed.  In  no  other 
instance  have  I  heard  of  a  marble  cave  in  connection 
with  ice.  There  were  scarcely  any  cracks  or  crevices 
in  the  rock. 

The  cave  goes  down  with  a  steep  slope  from  the 
entrance,  much  in  the  shape  of  a  tunnel,  for  some  ten 
meters.  The  slope  was  covered  with  slippery  mud  and 
decayed  leaves,  and  at  the  bottom  expanded  into  a  little 
chamber,  in  which  lay  a  mass  of  wet,  compact  snow,  some 
two  by  three  meters.  It  was  evident  that  the  snow  was 
simply  drifted  in  during  the  winter,  and  was  in  too  large 
a  mass  and  too  well  protected  to  melt  easily,  and  there 
could  be  no  question  but  that  this  place  was  purely  a 
refrigerator.  The  air  was  tranquil  throughout  and  there 
were  no  draughts.  On  the  same  day,  a  good  breeze  was 
blowing  in  the  Manchester  Valley. 

THE    FREEZING    WELL    OF    BRANDON. 

The  Freezing  Well  of  Brandon  is  situated  on  the 
western  or  southwestern  outskirts  of  the  village  of 
Brandon,  Vermont,  not  far  from  the  railroad  station.  I 
visited  it  on  the  7th  of  July,  1898.  The  well  was  pro- 
tected by  a  wooden  cover.  On  raising  this,  a  faint  stream 
of  cool  air  seemed  to  issue  forth ;  but  this  was  probably 
only  imagination.  The  sides,  as  far  down  as  one  could 
see,  were  built  in  with  rather  large  blocks  of  stone  with- 
out cement.  At  the  bottom  water  was  visible  and  there 
were  no  signs  of  ice.  We  drew  up  some  water  in  a 


78  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

bucket,  and  although  it  was  cool  there  was  nothing  icy 
about  it.  I  twice  lowered  a  thermometer  nearly  to  the 
water  and  each  time  after  ten  minutes  it  registered  only 
13°  C.  There  was  certainly  nothing  abnormal  in  this 
temperature,  in  fact  it  was  strictly  normal  and  my  ther- 
mometer showed  conclusively  by  its  actions  that  it  could 
not  have  been  near  any  ice  mass.  The  people  at  the 
house,  however,  assured  me  that  a  month  before  there 
was  ice  in  the  well. 

Afterwards  I  called  on  Mr.  C.  O.  Luce,  the  owner  of 
the  well.  He  stated  that  it  was  eleven  and  a  half  meters 
deep  to  the  bottom,  that  it  was  dug  in  1858,  and  that  the 
ground  through  which  it  goes  was  found  frozen  at  a  depth 
of  about  four  and  a  half  meters.  Here  there  is  a  stratum 
of  gravel  and  this  is  where  the  freezing  occurs.  Mr. 
Luce  thought  that  the  water  was  under  the  ice,  that  is, 
that  the  water  came  up  from  the  bottom.  He  said  also 
that  the  well  usually  froze  solid  in  winter;  but,  that  as 
this  winter  was  an  open  one,  there  was  less  ice  this  year 
than  usual.  He  thought  that  there  was  less  ice  anyway 
now  than  in  former  years,  partly  because  of  the  cover 
which  was  put  over  the  well,  and  which  keeps  out  some 
of  the  cold;  and  partly  because  a  neighboring  gravel 
hillock,  called  the  Hogback,  was  a  good  deal  cut  away, 
and  this  in  some  way  affects  the  supply  of  cold  in  the 
gravel.  He  added  that  the  sandy  soil  round  Brandon 
does  not  as  a  rule  freeze  to  a  greater  depth  than  two 
meters  each  winter.  The  house  built  beside  the  well  was 
said  to  be  comfortable  in  winter. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  79 

There  seems  no  doubt  that  this  is  another  refrigerator. 
The  cold  water  of  the  winter  snows  percolates  into  the 
gravel  mass  and  refreezes,  and,  owing  to  the  bad  conduct- 
ive quality  of  the  material,  the  gravel  remains  frozen  later 
than  the  soil  elsewhere  in  the  neighborhood.  The  fact  that 
the  well  went  through  a  frozen  gravel  stratum  when  dug, 
proves  that  it  is  not  alone  the  air  that  sinks  into  the  well 
itself,  which  makes  the  ice.  The  fact  that  the  well  freezes 
on  the  whole  less  than  formerly,  apparently  partly  owing 
to  the  digging  up  of  some  of  the  gravel  close  by,  goes  to 
prove  the  same  thing.  The  fact  that  the  well  generally 
freezes  solid  every  winter,  shows  that  although  some  of 
the  gravel  mass  possibly  remains  frozen  all  the  time, 
much  of  the  ice  is  renewed  each  year.  This  is  especially 
important  as  proving  that  the  ice  found  in  gravel  deposits 
is  due  to  the  cold  of  winter  and  not  to  a  glacial  period, 
although,  of  course,  no  one  could  say  for  how  long  a  time 
the  ice  was  forming  and  melting ;  and  this  process  might 
date  back  to  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  gravel  mass. 

I  could  learn  nothing  of  any  similar  place  near  Bran- 
don, except  that  Mr.  Luce  said  that  in  an  old  abandoned 
silver  mine  in  the  neighborhood,  he  had  once  seen  ice 
during  hot  weather. 

FREEZING   TALUS    ON    LOWER    AUSABLE    POND. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  Lower  Ausable  Pond,  Essex 
County,  New  York,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sebille  or  Col- 
vin,  there  is  a  talus  of  great  Laurentian  boulders,  which 
fell  from  the  mountain  and  lie  piled  up  on  the  edge  of  the 


8O  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

lake.  Among  these  boulders,  at  a  distance  of  about  five 
hundred  meters  from  the  southern  end  of  the  lake,  there 
are  spaces,  several  of  which  might  be  called  caves, 
although  they  are  really  hollows  between  the  boulders. 
On  the  1 2th  of  July,  1898,  I  visited  this  spot  with  Mr. 
Edward  I.  H.  Howell  of  Philadelphia.  From  several  of 
the  rock  cracks  we  found  a  draught  of  air  flowing  strongly 
out,  as  tested  by  the  smoke  of  a  cigar.  The  air  was 
distinctly  icy  and  there  could  be  no  question  that  there 
was  a  considerable  quantity  of  ice  among  the  rocks  to 
produce  the  temperature. 

In  three  places  we  found  masses  of  ice.  One  of  these 
hollows  was  small,  and  the  other  two  were  much  larger. 
One  of  the  latter  was  almost  round  in  shape,  and  per- 
haps three  meters  in  diameter;  with  a  little  snow  near 
the  mouth  and  with  plenty  of  ice  at  the  bottom.  The 
other  was  a  long  descending  crack  between  two  boulders 
which  joined  overhead,  and  with  the  bottom  filled  by  a 
long,  narrow  slope  of  ice,  perhaps  seventy-five  centimeters 
in  width  and  six  meters  in  length,  set  at  an  angle  of 
about  thirty-five  degrees.  The  ice  was  hard  and  non- 
prismatic. 

The  cold  air  affects  a  large  area  of  land  around  the 
boulders.  Mr.  Howell  called  my  attention  to  the  flowers 
of  the  bunch-berry,  which  he  said  were  at  least  two  weeks 
behind  those  on  the  surrounding  mountains.  The  same 
was  true  of  oxalis,  a  pretty  white  flower,  of  which  we  found 
several  beds  in  full  bloom. 

Mr.   Howell  went  to   this    talus,  on  the  4th   of  July 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  8 1 

previous,  with  Mr.  Niles,  President  of  the  Appalachian 
Mountain  Club,  on  which  occasion  they  found  plenty  of 
snow  near  the  entrance  of  the  larger  hollow.  Mr.  Howell, 
indeed,  has  repeatedly  visited  this  place,  and  always  found 
ice,  which  must,  therefore,  be  looked  on  as  perennial. 
At  all  times  also  he  has  felt  cold  draughts  flowing  out; 
sometimes  they  were  so  strong  as  to  lower  the  temper- 
ature over  the  lake  to  a  distance  of  thirty  meters  or 
more  :  on  hot  days  he  has  seen  occasionally  a  misty  cloud 
form  on  the  lake  in  front  of  the  boulders.  Mr.  Howell 
considers  that  the  draughts  so  affect  the  surrounding  air, 
that  an  artificial  climate  is  produced,  and  it  is  owing  to 
this  that  spring  flowers  bloom  late  in  July  and  sometimes 
in  August.  Another  fact  well  known  to  him,  is  that  in  hot 
weather,  the  spot  in  front  of  the  boulders  is  the  best  in  the 
whole  lake  to  catch  trout,  as  they  always  congregate  in  the 
coldest  water.  The  Adirondack  guides  use  these  ice  retain- 
ing hollows,  which  they  call  ice-caves,  as  refrigerators  for 
their  provisions  and  game  in  hot  weather :  they  say  that 
the  ice  is  formed  in  winter  and  remains  over  during  the 
summer,  as  it  is  so  well  sheltered. 

FREEZING  TALUS  OF  THE  GIANT  OF  THE  VALLEY. 

On  the  indications  of  Mr.  Otis,  chief  guide  of  the  Adi- 
rondack Reserve,  I  explored  with  Mr.  C.  Lamb,  a  guide 
from  Keene  Valley,  the  southern  base  of  the  Giant  of 
the  Valley  Mountain,  Essex  County,  New  York,  on  the 
1 4th  of  July,  1898.  A  road  runs  from  Keene  Heights 
to  Port  Henry,  through  the  gap  between  the  south  base 


82  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

of  the  Giant  of  the  Valley  and  the  north  base  of  Round 
Mountain,  and  passes  close  to  a  small  lake  called  Chapel 
Pond.  Some  three  hundred  meters  west  of  this  lake, 
we  left  the  road  and  struck  north,  across  the  brook,  into 
the  thick,  mossy  woods.  After  perhaps  one  hundred 
meters,  we  came  to  a  talus  of  great  boulders  of  Laurentian 
rock,  with  the  cliffs  of  the  Giant,  whence  the  boulders  had 
fallen,  rising  steeply  above.  We  found  ice  under  several 
of  them,  although  never  in  any  quantity.  The  ther- 
mometer, after  an  exposure  of  fifteen  minutes  in  one  of 
these  little  hollows,  registered  6°  C.,  although  not  more 
than  one  meter  from  where  the  sunshine  fell  on  the  moss. 
In  the  shade  of  a  tree  one  meter  distant  from  the  same 
hollow  it  registered  26°  C. ;  a  difference  of  20°  C.  at  a 
distance  of  only  two  meters. 

Perhaps  one  kilometer  east  of  Chapel  Pond,  there  is  a 
place,  where  the  bases  of  the  mountains  come  much  nearer 
together,  which  bears  the  name  of  "The  Narrows."  Here 
we  crossed  the  brook  again,  and,  after  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  meters  of  scrambling  through  rough  woods,  reached 
once  more  the  talus  of  the  Giant,  composed  of  tremendous 
boulders.  Among  these  we  found  ice  in  many  places  and 
this  time  in  large  quantities.  Within  one  boulder  cave  we 
found  an  ice  slab  some  four  meters  in  length,  by  two 
meters  in  width,  and  one  meter  in  thickness.  This  was 
pure,  hard  and  non-prismatic  ice,  and  was  evidently  not 
formed  of  compressed  snow :  in  fact  snow  could  not  have 
drifted  in  under  the  boulder.  We  broke  off  a  large  piece 
of  ice  and  took  it  back  to  Saint  Hubert's  Inn,  and  it 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  83 

melted  rather  slowly.  From  the  mouth  of  this  cave  an 
icy  draught  issued,  and,  as  it  struck  the  warmer  air  out- 
side, a  slight  mist  was  formed.  Mr.  Lamb  said  that  from 
the  road  itself  he  had  sometimes  seen  mist  rising  from 
this  talus.  Further  explorations  of  the  talus  of  the 
Giant  would  probably  reveal  ice  in  many  other  places 
than  those  we  examined.7 

Mr.  Lamb  told  me  of  two  other  places  in  the  Adiron- 
dacks,  where  he  found  ice  in  similar  boulder  formations. 
One  was  in  the  talus  of  Mount  Wallface  in  Indian  Pass, 
between  Mounts  Wallface  and  Mclntyre.  The  other  was 
in  the  talus  of  Mount  Mclntyre  in  Avalanche  Pass,  between 
Mounts  Mclntyre  and  Golden.  At  the  latter  place,  he 
found  it  near  the  trail  going  round  the  lake  in  the  pass. 

THE  ICE  GULCH,   RANDOLPH. 

The  Randolph  Ice  Gulch  is  situated  in  Randolph 
Township,  New  Hampshire,  about  eight  kilometers  from 
Randolph  Station,  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad.8  I 
visited  it  on  August  nth,  1898.  At  the  Mount  Crescent 
House,  I  found  a  guide  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Charles  E. 

7  Mr.  E.  I.  H.  Howell  examined  several  times,  in  1899,  the  talus 
of  the  Giant  of  the  Valley.  He  found  ice  in  many  places  ;  also  cold  air 
currents  blowing  out.  At  one  spot,  there  is  a  spring  which  flows  all 
through  the  summer,  and  the  water  is  so  cold,  that  its  temperature  is 
little  above  that  of  melting  ice.  Mr.  Howell  found,  as  at  Ausable 
Pond,  spring  flowers  growing  in  mid-summer  among  the  rocks  of  the 
talus. 

8  I  first  heard  of  the  Ice  Gulch  from  Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr. ,  of  Bos- 
ton. Some  years  ago  in  the  middle  of  July,  he  found  ice  plentiful  in 
the  second  chamber.  He  thought  the  Gulch  only  a  refrigerator. 


84  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Lowe,  Jr.  The  excursion  took  us  about  six  hours.  The 
trail  was  a  rough  bush  path,  cut  by  the  Appalachian 
Mountain  Club,  and  which  had  not  been  cleaned  out  that 
year.  It  was  a  cloudy  but  hot  day  and  this,  combined 
with  the  badness  of  the  road,  made  the  walk  fatiguing. 
The  Gulch  lies  between  Crescent  and  Black  Moun- 
tains. The  altitude  of  the  upper  end  of  the  Gulch  is 
something  over  eight  hundred  meters,  that  of  the  lower 
end  about  six  hundred  meters.  It  is  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred meters  long,  and  averages  perhaps  one  hundred 
meters  in  width  at  the  top,  and  only  a  few  meters  at  the 
bottom.  The  depth  may  be  about  seventy-five  meters  and 
the  sides  are  steep,  in  some  places  sheer.  The  bottom  is 
a  mass  of  broken,  fallen  rocks,  with  a  good  many  trees 
growing  among  them.  There  are  several  steps,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  Gulch,  which  are  called  chambers,  although 
the  term  seems  rather  meaningless.  Promenading  through 
the  bottom  of  the  Gulch  was  fraught  with  difficulty,  be- 
cause the  rocks  were  placed  in  most  unsuitable  positions 
for  human  progression,  and  my  hands  were  certainly  as 
useful  to  me  as  my  feet  in  preserving  equilibrium.  We 
found  ice  in  one  or  two  places,  but  not  in  any  great 
quantity.  In  one  spot  it  was  overlaid  by  water.  My 
guide  said  that  there  was  less  ice  than  the  year  before. 
A  large  piece  which  we  broke  off,  and  which  furnished  us 
with  a  cooling  morsel  of  frozen  fluid,  was  full  of  air 
bubbles.  It  was  not  prismatic  ice,  and  was  certainly  un- 
usual in  formation.  It  crunched  up  under  the  teeth  and, 
although  it  did  not  look  like  solidified  snow,  yet,  judging 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  85 

from  its  position  among  the  boulders,  it  was  doubtless 
formed  from  the  melting  and  refreezing  of  snow.9  My 
guide  said  he  had  heard  that  fresh  ice  began  to  form 
sometimes  in  September.  The  Gulch  is  well  protected 
against  wind,  and  I  detected  no  draughts  among  the 
rocks.  Except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  ice,  the 
temperature  was  not  abnormally  low. 

On  returning  to  the  Mount  Crescent  House,  I  had  a 
talk  with  Mr.  Charles  E.  Lowe,  Sr.,  who  told  me  that 
Alpine  plants,  like  those  which  grow  on  Mount  Washing- 
ton and  Mount  Adams,  are  found  in  the  Gulch ;  but  that 
they  do  not  exist  on  the  neighboring  Black  and  Crescent 
Mountains.  He  said  also  that  ice  was  present  in  more 
than  one  place  in  King's  Ravine,  and  that  it  was  always 
there. 

FREEZING  BOULDER  TALUS  AT  RUMNEY. 

About  three  kilometers  south  of  Rumney,  New  Hamp- 
shire, there  is  a  hill  called  Bald  Mountain,  which,  about 
three  hundred  meters  west  of  the  carriage  road  from 
Rumney  to  Plymouth,  descends  as  'a  big  cliff,  with  an 
exposure  facing  nearly  southeast.  At  the  base  of  this 
cliff,  there  is  a  talus10  which  I  visited  on  the  27th  of 

9  On  the  i  yth  of  February,  1899,  four  days  after  the  greatest  snow 
storm  in  Philadelphia  in  many  years,  I  noticed  that  the  snow  on  my 
roof  solidified  slowly  into  a  mass  of  ice  which  contained  a  good  many 
air-bubbles.     It  strikingly  resembled  the  ice  of  the  Ice  Gulch,  only  that 
it  was  more  solid  and  did  not  have  more  than  half  as  many  air-bubbles. 

10  Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr.,  wrote  me  about  this  place,  where  he  had 
found  ice  plentiful  some  years  ago  in  August,  within  two  or  three 
meters  from  the  outside  :  he  considered  it  only  a  refrigerator. 


86  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

August,  1898,  with  the  Sheriff  of  Rumney,  Mr.  Learned. 
He  said  he  had  found  plenty  of  ice  there  on  the  i8th  of 
August,  1897,  but  he  doubted  whether  there  would  be 
any  left  this  year,  on  account  of  the  hot  weather.  Effect- 
ively a  careful  hunt  failed  to  reveal  any  ice,  although  the 
talus  was  just  the  kind  of  place  where  it  might  have  been 
expected,  as  the  boulders  were  piled  one  over  the  other 
and  in  one  or  two  places  there  were  considerable  hol- 
lows. The  temperatures  were  normal,  and  there  were 
no  draughts.  The  talus  is  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  only 
moderately  sheltered  against  wind  by  a  scrub  forest.  But 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  ice  lingers  there  long  after  it 
has  disappeared  from  every  other  spot  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  it  seems  as  if  our  not  finding  any,  is  another 
proof  that  it  is  the  heat  of  summer  which  melts  it  away. 

ICE   FORMATIONS  AND  WINDHOLES  AT  WATERTOWN. 

At  Watertown,  New  York,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Black  River,  in  the  town  itself,  are  some  natural  cracks  or 
crevices  in  the  limestone  rocks.  They  are  only  a  short 
distance  from  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  station. 
The  cracks  enter  the  northern  side  of  the  railroad  embank- 
ment, pass  under  the  railroad  tracks,  and  extend  some 
distance  back.  In  front  of  them  are  four  cellars,  used  for 
storing  beer  kegs.  The  lessor,  Mr.  Ehrlicher,  obligingly 
had  the  cellars  opened  for  me,  on  the  I2th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1898.  There  was  neither  ice  nor  draughts  in  the 
cellars,  and  the  temperature  was  normal.  Mr.  Ehr- 
licher said  that  in  the  spring  there  was  ice  in  the 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  87 

cracks,  but  that  it  had  all  melted  away  as  the  result  of 
the  hot  summer. 

About  four  kilometers  west  of  Watertown,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Black  River,  is  the  picnic  ground  of  Glen 
Park,  which  is  reached  by  trolley.  The  manager  of  the 
restaurant  walked  around  the  park  with  me.  In  one 
spot  is  a  hollow  or  glen  at  the  base  of  a  small,  much 
cracked  limestone  cliff,  which  has  a  northern  exposure. 
The  manager  said  that  snow  and  ice  usually  lies  in  this 
place  until  June,  not  only  among  the  broken  rocks,  but 
even  in  the  open.  Sometimes  ice  remains  among  the 
boulders  all  summer,  but  only  near  the  front  of  the 
boulders,  and  by  pushing  in,  one  soon  gets  beyond  it : 
we  found  none,  a  fact  showing  once  more  the  effect  of 
the  unusually  warm  summer.  On  hot  days,  draughts 
issue  from  between  the  boulders,  but  as  the  day  was 
cool,  we  did  not  notice  any.  The  spot  is  well  sheltered 
against  the  wind  by  a  number  of  trees ;  and  the  shape 
of  the  hollow  reminded  me  of  the  glen  in  front  of  the 
Eishohle  bei  Roth. 

Not  one  hundred  meters  from  this  hollow,  is  a  little 
limestone  cave,  closed  by  a  wooden  door,  which  excludes 
any  cold  air  in  winter.  The  cave  is  lighted  by  electric 
lights,  and  is  a  narrow,  crooked,  descending  fissure,  z.gang- 
hohle,  where  the  marks  of  water  action  are  plainly  visible. 
At  the  bottom  a  little  stream,  evidently  the  active  agent  in 
forming  the  cave,  ran  through  the  fissured  limestone.  In 
the  stream  a  large  toad  or  frog  was  swimming  about. 
There  was  nothing  icy  about  the  cave  or  the  water,  and  the 


88  GLACIERES   OR    FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

temperature  was  normal.  Ice  was  never  known  to  form 
in  the  cave.  These  two  places,  so  close  together,  are  an 
interesting  confirmation  that  it  is  only  where  the  outside 
cold  can  get  in,  that  we  find  subterranean  ice. 

THE  FREEZING   CAVE  AND    FREEZING  WELLS  OF  DECORAH. 

Near  Decorah,  Iowa,  is  a  freezing  cavern,  which  is 
more  frequently  referred  to  in  cave  literature  than  is  gen- 
erally the  case.  I  visited  it  on  Friday,  September  the  3oth, 
1898,  with  an  old  English  resident  of  Decorah,  Mr.  W.  D. 
Selby-Hill.  The  cave  is  situated  about  one  kilometer  to 
the  northward  of  Decorah,  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Upper  Iowa  River,  at  the  base  of  a  bluff.  It  is  some 
thirty  to  forty  meters  above  the  stream,  and  faces  south- 
ward. It  looks  like  a  fault  or  fissure  in  the  rocks,  with 
the  sides  meeting  a  few  meters  overhead.  It  is  a  true 
cave,  but  probably  in  an  early  stage  of  formation,  for 
there  are  no  apparent  traces  of  water  action,  nor  any 
stalagmites  nor  stalactites.  The  absence  of  the  latter 
may,  however,  be  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  periodic 
glaciere.  The  rock  is  a  white  limestone,  rich  in  fossils. 
The  cave  is  some  two  to  three  meters  in  width  and  is 
rather  winding,  with  a  short  arm  or  pocket  branching 
out  on  the  west  side.  The  main  cave  runs  back  some 
thirty  meters  from  the  entrance.  In  one  place  it  is 
necessary  to  stoop,  to  get  past  some  overhanging  rock 
slabs.  By  candle  light,  we  went  to  the  rear  of  the  cave, 
and  found  it  warm,  dry,  and  free  from  ice.  There  were 
no  draughts,  possibly  because  the  day  was  cool. 


ENTRANCE   OF   THE   CAVE   OF   DECORAH. 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Kovarik. 


UNIVERSITY 

tO/?rA,,crtftf& 


EXPERIENCES   IN    GLACIERES.  89 

I  looked  in  vain  for  tubular  fissures,  or  indeed  any 
fissures,  through  which  water  might  freeze  by  pressure  in 
its  descent,  as  the  believers  in  the  capillary  theory  say  it 
does.  Nothing  of  the  kind  existed,  and  I  wrote  in  my 
note-book:  "Writing  on  the  very  spot  about  which  this 
theory  was  started,  I  feel  justified  in  asserting  that  the 
theory  amounts  to  absolutely  nothing  and  is  entirely  in- 
correct." 

Mr.  Hill  told  me  that  there  were  two  wells  in  the 
southern  portion  of  Decorah  Township,  where  ice  was 
found  in  summer.  I  visited  them  both,  but  found  no  ice, 
and  the  temperatures  normal.  Mr.  Hill  said  that  one  of 
the  wells  was  dug  about  thirty  years  ago,  and  that  the 
workman  told  him  that  the  ground  which  he  went  through 
was  frozen ;  and  that  at  one  place  he  struck  an  opening, 
from  which  came  so  strong  a  current  of  icy  air,  that  it  was 
hard  to  keep  at  work. 

I  talked  to  several  persons  afterwards.  Inter  alia,  they 
told  me  that  the  bluff  was  a  great  place  for  rattlesnakes, 
sometimes  big  ones.  They  admitted  also  generally  that 
they  were  puzzled  about  the  formation  of  ice  in  the  cave. 
Some  claimed  that  the  ice  formed  in  summer — the  old 
story  once  more.  I  met,  however,  Mr.  Alois  F.  Kovarik 
of  the  Decorah  Institute,  who  had  made  a  series  of  regular 
observations  for  over  a  year  and  found  that  the  ice  begins 
to  form  about  the  end  of  March  and  beginning  of  April, 
and  is  at  its  maximum  towards  the  beginning  of  June. 
Mr.  Kovarik  also  told  me,  that  he  had  found  ice  in  one 
of  the  wells  in  the  beginning  of  August. 


9O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

This  was  an  especially  satisfactory  trip  to  me,  for  it 
did  away,  once  for  all,  with  any  possible  belief  that  there 
was  any  basis  of  fact  for  the  capillary  theory.  It  also 
seems  to  me  important  to  find  that  the  ice  of  these 
freezing  wells  melts  in  summer.  For  it  shows  that  their 
ice  is  due  to  the  same  causes  as  those  which  form  the  ice 
in  the  cave,  and  is  another  proof  against  the  validity  of 
the  glacial  period  theory. 

FREEZING   ROCK   TALUS   ON   SPRUCE   CREEK. 

On  Spruce  Creek,  Huntingdon  County,  Pennsylvania, 
about  four  kilometers  north  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
depot,  is  an  ice  bearing  talus,  known  locally  as  the  Ice 
Holes  or  Ice  Caves.  I  visited  this  spot,  on  October  the 
5th,  1898,  with  Mr.  Benner,  of  Spruce  Creek.  We 
walked  up  the  pretty  valley  along  the  old  Pittsburgh 
turnpike,  at  one  place  finding  some  papaw  trees,  whose 
fruit  had  a  horrible  sickening  taste ;  then  we  crossed 
Spruce  Creek  by  a  footbridge  and  followed  the  other  bank 
back  for  some  five  hundred  meters,  until  we  were  nearly 
opposite  the  old  Colerain  Forge,  which  is  located  in  a 
piece  of  land  called  by  the  curious  name  of  Africa. 
About  half  way  from  the  bridge  we  smelt  a  strange 
odor,  which  my  companion  thought  came  from  a  copper- 
head or  rattlesnake :  we  did  not  investigate. 

The  freezing  talus  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  Tussey 
Mountain :  it  is  big,  and  is  composed  of  small  sand- 
stone (?)  rock  debris.  The  talus  is  at  least  thirty  meters 
high  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  meters  long.  As  I 


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EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  91 

stood  at  the  bottom,  I  was  reminded  strongly  of  the  talus 
at  the  Dornburg.  At  the  base  were  a  number  of  small 
pits,  evidently  dug  by  man.  From  the  interstices  be- 
tween the  rocks,  icy  cold  draughts  issued  in  some  places, 
and  there  was  no  doubt  that  there  was  plenty  of  ice 
beneath  the  stones.  In  one  place  we  thought  we  could 
see  ice,  and  I  poked  at  the  white  substance  with  my  stick, 
but  I  am  not  positive  that  it  was  ice.  All  over  the  talus, 
the  temperature  was  strikingly  colder  than  a  few  meters 
away,  and  in  the  pits  we  could  see  our  breaths  distinctly. 
Although  I  am  not  much  of  a  botanist,  yet  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  flora  immediately  near  the  talus  was  some- 
what different  in  character  from  that  of  the  surrounding 
country. 

Mr.  Benner  told  me  that  he  saw,  three  or  four  weeks 
before,  plenty  of  ice  in  the  pits ;  that  they  were  made  by 
farmers  who  formerly  came  to  this  spot  to  get  ice ;  and 
that  parties  occasionally  picnic  here  in  the  summer  and 
make  ice  cream.  He  stated  also  that  he  saw,  some  years 
ago,  a  small  cave  or  hole  containing  ice  near  Mapleton, 
Pennsylvania,  but  that  it  was  destroyed  by  quarrying  the 
rock  away. 

FREEZING   GORGE  NEAR   ELLENVILLE. 

On  Sunday,  October  the  9th,  1 898,  with  a  young  man 
from  Ellenville,  I  visited  the  well  known  Ellenville  Gorge, 
in  the  Shawangunk  Range,  Ulster  County,  New  York. 
We  left  the  hotel  at  eight-forty  A.  M.  and  reached  the 
gorge,  known  locally  as  the  Ice  Cave,  at  ten-five  A.  M. 


92  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

It  is  about  four  kilometers  northeast  from  Ellenville.  The 
path  rises  steadily  uphill  and  is  of  the  roughest  descrip- 
tion; it  is  covered  with  loose  stones,  and  looks  as  if  it 
might  become  the  bed  of  a  mountain  brook  in  wet 
weather. 

I  call  this  place  a  gorge,  instead  of  a  cave,  because  it  is 
uncovered  at  the  top,  but  probably  originally  it  was 
covered.  It  is  shaped  like  a  pit  cave  minus  a  roof,  and 
it  reminded  me  of  the  Friedrichsteiner  Eishohle,  and  the 
Glacieres  de  Saint-Georges  and  du  Pre  de  Saint-Livres. 
It  is  entered  by  a  long  slope  from  the  western  end,  the 
gorge  turning  northward  further  back.  I  estimated  its 
width,  at  the  bottom  at  some  five  to  seven  meters,  at  the 
top  at  some  three  to  four  meters ;  its  length  at  some  thirty 
meters  and  the  deepest  point  we  reached,  at  some  twenty 
meters  below  the  surface.  These  are  guesses,  however. 
In  one  place,  a  great  rock  slab  overhangs  the  gorge. 
At  nearly  the  lowest  point  of  the  rock  floor,  there  is 
a  hole  which  extends  perpendicularly  downwards  some 
five  or  ten  meters  more ;  this  opening  is  partly  blocked 
up  with  fallen  masses  of  rock  which  would  make  a  further 
descent  perilous.  The  north  end  of  the  gorge  is  also  filled 
up  with  a  mass  of  great  broken  rocks ;  in  fact,  the  whole 
place  is  out  of  repair,  as  the  rocks  are  cracked  and  creviced 
on  both  sides  to  a  great  extent.  The  rock  is  friable  and 
seems  to  be  all  breaking  up,  or  rather  down,  and  I  think 
there  is  some  danger  from  falling  stones,  although  I  did 
not  see  any  fall.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  moss  on  the  sides 
of  the  gorge,  and  on  some  ledges  small  evergreens  are 


GORGE   AT   ELLENVILLE. 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Davis. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  93 

growing.  The  gorge  is  sheltered  thoroughly  from  winds 
by  its  formation  and  position,  and  somewhat  by  the 
scrub  forest  surrounding  it.  There  are  several  long, 
deep  crevices  a  few  meters  further  up  the  mountain 
side,  and  I  think  one  of  them  is  an  extension  of  the 
main  gorge. 

We  found  no  ice.  It  generally  lasts  till  about  the 
beginning  of  September ;  and  Professor  Angelo  Heilprin, 
and  Miss  Julia  L.  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  have  found 
plenty  of  it  in  July  and  August.  But  the  ice  had  evi- 
dently now  been  gone  for  some  time,  for  the  tempera- 
ture at  the  bottom  of  the  gorge  was  about  11°  C.  at 
ten-thirty  A.  M.  This  was  but  little  colder  than  the 
temperature  outside,  which  at  ten-fifteen  A.  M.  was 
14°  C. 

On  returning  to  Ellenville,  I  learnt  that  there  was 
another  somewhat  similar  smaller  gorge,  some  eight  kilo- 
meters away,  at  a  place  called  Sam's  Point.  This,  however, 
is  said  to  retain  only  snow,  while  in  the  Ellenville  gorge 
much  ice  is  sometimes  formed,  and  icicles  a  couple  of 
meters  long  are  said  to  hang  on  the  sides  of  the  cliffs. 
The  proprietor  of  the  hotel  told  me  he  had  heard  of  a  cave 
which  contained  ice  not  far  from  Albany,  at  a  place  called 
Carlisle,  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad. 

FREEZING   CAVE   AND   WINDHOLES    NEAR   FARRANDSVILLE. 

I  arrived  at  Farrandsville,  Clinton  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, early  on  Tuesday  morning,  October  the  nth,  1898, 
and  found  a  boy,  who  worked  in  a  brick  mill,  as  guide  to 


94  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

the  caves.11  After  emptying  a  small,  flat  bottomed  boat 
of  the  water  of  which  it  was  half  full,  we  rowed  across 
the  Susquehanna  River;  then  we  walked  up  the  road, 
along  the  river  bank,  for  a  couple  of  hundred  meters,  and 
struck  up  the  so-called  path  to  the  caves.  Although  the 
whole  of  the  mountain  side  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  road 
maker,  no  better  plan  seems  to  have  suggested  itself  than 
to  make  the  track  go  straight  up.  This  saved  making 
zigzags,  yet  the  result  is  that  the  path  is  steep,  and  as 
it  is  rocky  and  slippery,  it  is  hard  travelling  without 
bootnails  or  alpenstock. 

As  we  went  up,  I  noticed,  in  one  or  two  places,  cold 
draughts  issuing  from  crevices  in  the  rocks.  We  soon 
came  to  a  hollow  under  a  rock,  where  there  were  a  number 
of  cracks  and  crevices :  the  boy  spoke  of  it  as  the  lower 
cave.  It  is  some  sixty  meters  above  the  Susquehanna 
River  and  cold  draughts  flowed  from  the  cracks,  although 
we  saw  no  ice.  The  cave  was  about  twenty  meters 

11  I  learned  of  this  cave  from  Mr.  Eugene  F.  McCabe,  of  Renovo, 
Pennsylvania.  Mr.  McCabe  took  out  large  pieces  of  ice  from  it  in 
the'  month  of  August.  On  December  23d,  1896,  he  found  no  ice 
inside  the  cave,  but  a  hoar  frost  covered  the  rocks  ;  the  temperature 
outside  was  — 5.6°  ;  inside  — 4.5°  :  the  day  was  clear  and  there  was  no 
breeze  ;  several  matches  lighted  in  the  cave  were  almost  instantly 
blown  out  by  a  current  of  air  coming  from  crevices  in  the  rocks. 

Mr.  Ira  C.  Chatham,  postmaster  at  Farrandsville,  wrote  to  me  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1898,  as  follows:  "Your  paper  on  Ice  Caves 
[Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  March,  1897]  at  pp.  177  and  178 
describes  the  Farrandsville  Cave  as  near  as  is  possible,  as  the  ice 
forms  in  the  spring  from  the  snow  melting  and  dropping  through  the 
rocks  into  the  cave,  and  the  rocks  face  directly  north  as  stated." 


EXPERIENCES   IN    GLACIERES.  95 

higher  up.  One  could  crawl  into  it  for  a  couple  of  me- 
ters, and  all  round  it  the  rocks  are  somewhat  creviced ; 
in  fact,  I  think  there  are  a  good  many  cracks  in  the  entire 
hill.  There  was  no  ice  in  sight  in  this  hole,  but  a  strong, 
cold  draught  poured  from  it.  After  an  exposure  of  fifteen 
minutes  the  thermometer  registered  6°  C. ;  while  outside, 
in  the  shade,  it  stood  at  15°  C.  This  decidedly  sub-nor- 
mal temperature  proved  unmistakably,  in  my  opinion,  the 
presence  of  ice  a  little  further  than  we  could  see  in. 
Both  holes  face  about  north  and  are  sheltered,  by  their 
position  and  by  the  sparse  forest  which  covers  the  ridge, 
against  all  winds  except  those  from  the  north. 

I  talked  to  the  postmaster  and  the  railroad  agent  at 
Farrandsville  on  my  return,  and  they  stated  that  there 
was  no  ice  in  the  hole  in  winter,  but  that  it  formed 
about  April  and  remained  over  until  towards  Septem- 
ber, showing  that  the  cave  is  a  normal  glaciere  on  a 
small  scale. 

GLACIERES  NEAR  SUMMIT. 

In  the  search  for  coal,  the  mountains  of  the  Appa- 
lachian Chain  between  the  little  town  of  Summit,  and  the 
neighboring  village  of  Coaldale,  Carbon  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, were  mined  and  tunneled  in  every  direction.  Owing 
to  the  caving  in  of  some  of  these  mines,  depressions 
formed  in  certain  places  along  the  ridge  in  the  upper  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  and  in  two  of  these  hollows  natural 
refrigerators  occur.  These  were  brought  to  my  notice  by 
Mr.  C.  J.  Nicholson  of  Philadelphia,  and  I  visited  them  on 


96          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

May  the  5th,  1899,  in  company  with  two  coal  miners  of 
Summit. 

Starting  from  Summit,  we  passed  across  some  rough 
ground  under  which  there  was  a  mine  on  fire ;  an.d  the 
miners  showed  me  the  tops  of  two  pipes  sticking  out  of 
the  ground,  from  which  issued  a  smoke  or  steam,  too  hot 
to  hold  the  hand  in  more  than  a  few  seconds.  Going 
beyond  through  brushwood,  for  a  couple  of  hundred 
meters,  we  came  to  the  first  glaciere,  which  was  also  the 
nearest  to  Summit.  It  faced  almost  due  north  and  looked 
as  if  it  was  formerly  the  entrance  to  a  mine.  It  was  fairly 
big,  and  my  companions  assured  me  that,  until  within 
about  a  year,  ice  was  always  found  in  it.  Recently,  how- 
ever, part,  of  the  rock  roof  fell  in,  blocking  up  the  entrance 
with  a  mass  of  debris  and  making  it  unsafe  to  venture  in. 
Formerly  parties  of  tourists  constantly  visited  this  place, 
after  coming  over  the  Switchback,  but  this  is  no  longer 
done  and  there  has  been  some  talk  of  cleaning  away  the 
broken  rocks  and  making  the  glaciere  accessible.  The 
men  also  said  that  occasionally  people  living  in  the 
neighborhood  had  dug  out  the  ice  for  their  own  use. 

The  other  glaciere  was  a  short  distance  further,  in  the 
direction  of  Coaldale.  It  is  in  a  pit,  which  may  have 
been  the  mouth  of  a  disused  shaft  or  only  a  depression 
resulting  from  a  cave-in.  A  scrubby  forest,  which  sur- 
rounds the  hollow,  acts  as  a  windbrake.  A  rather  steep 
slope  leads  down  into  the  pit,  and  at  the  end  passes 
under  the  wall  of  rock  of  the  opposite  side  for  a  short 
distance,  forming  a  small  cave,  which  faces  almost  due 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES. 


97 


south  and  whose  floor  is  choked  up  with  broken  rock 
fragments.  At  the  bottom  of  the  slope  we  found  some 
snow,  and  among  the  boulders  a  good  deal  of  snow-ice  as 
well  as  several  long  icicles  hanging  from  the  rocks.  All 
the  ice  and  snow  lay  on  the  north  side  of  the  rocks,  or 


FIG.  9.    VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  PIT  NEAR  SUMMIT. 

underneath  them,  so  that  it  was  in  shady  places  where  the 
sun  could  not  reach  it.  The  temperature  was  not  at  all 
uncomfortable,  although  somewhat  cool  and  damp. 

There  was  nothing  in  either  glaciere,  to  show  that  the 
ice  was  formed  from  any  other  cause  than  the  drifting  in, 
and  melting  and  refreezing  of  the  winter's  snow;  and  my 


98          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

impression  is  that  the  ice  in  the  second  glaciere  could 
not  last  through  the  summer. 

THE  SNOW   HOLE  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

The  Snow  Hole  near  Williamstown  (Massachusetts)  is 
situated  near  the  northern  end  of  the  Petersburgh  Moun- 
tain of  the  Taghconic  Range ;  it  is  slightly  below  the  water- 
shed on  the  Williamstown  side,  at  an  altitude  of  about 
seven  hundred  meters.  The  Snow  Hole  is  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  near  the  boundary  between  New  York  and 
Massachusetts.  It  is  a  long  two  hours'  drive  from  Will- 
iamstown, the  last  four  kilometers  or  so,  over  an  exceed- 
ingly steep  and  rough  road,  which  is,  in  fact,  nothing  but 
an  old  logging  road,  and  the  worst  I  ever  drove  over 
except  the  road  to  Demenyfalva. 

I  visited  the  Snow  Hole  with  my  brother  on  Friday, 
September  the  29th,  1899.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  dense 
forest,  mainly  of  recent  growth,  which  thoroughly  shelters 
it  from  all  winds.  In  shape  and  appearance  it  resembles 
the  Gorge  at  Ellenville,  except  that  it  is  smaller :  its  lo- 
cation on  the  ridge  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  Friedrich- 
steiner  Eishohle.  It  is  a  narrow  crack — or  cave  minus  a 
roof — about  fifteen  meters  long,  six  to  seven  meters 
deep  and  from  two  to  five  meters  wide.  It  faces  nearly 
north,  and  the  bottom  is  in  perpetual  shadow.  From 
the  northern  end,  a  gentle  slope  leads  to  the  rear.  The 
slope  was  a  good  deal  blocked  up  by  a  big  tree  with 
large  branches,  which  had  fallen  directly  into  the  fissure. 
There  was  some  moss  or  greenish  mould  on  the  rocks  in 


EXPERIENCES  IN  GLACIERES.  99 

places,  and  at  the  rear  end  of  the  slope  there  were  some 
fissures  in  the  rocks,  into  which  one  might  perhaps  have 
crawled  a  little  farther,  which  formed  a  tiny  cave.  There 
was  also  a  similar  incipient  cave  at  the  northern  end. 
I  could  not  detect  any  draughts  issuing  from  these  rock 
fissures,  and  the  air  throughout  was  still,  although  the 
wind  was  blowing  hard  on  the  ridge.  The  rocks  were 
moist  in  places  and  the  air  damp,  but  there  was  neither 
snow  nor  ice  and  the  temperatures  were  normal.  The 
driver  told  me  that  he  had  found  plenty  of  snow  in  the 
base  of  the  gorge  some  years  ago  in  July ;  and  he 
said  that  he  had  always  heard  that  snow  was  found 
in  the  Snow  Hole  all  the  year  round.  All  the  condi- 
tions of  the  place,  the  shape  of  the  fissure,  and  its 
sheltered  northern  exposition,  are  favorable  to  the  re- 
tention of  ice  and  snow,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
they  remain  over  every  spring. 

ICY  GULF  NEAR  GREAT  BARRINGTON. 

The  Icy  Gulf  or  Icy  Glen  is  some  eight  kilometers 
from  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  I  have  not  been 
in  it,  but  was  told  in  October,  1899,  by  the  farmers  living 
near  by,  that  after  snowy  winters,  ice  remains  over 
through  July.  It  must  be  similar  to  the  Icy  Glen  at 
Stockbridge. 

THE  ICE  BED  OF  WALLINGFORD. 

The  Ice  Bed  of  Wallingford  is  situated  about  three 
kilometers  to  the  east  of  Wallingford,  Vermont.  A  drive 
of  half  an  hour,  over  the  Mount  Holly  and  Hearburrow 


IOO         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

roads,  takes  the  visitor  to  the  entrance  of  a  rough  wood 
path,  which,  at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  hundred  meters, 
leads  to  the  Ice  Bed.  This  is  a  huge  talus,  at  the  base  of 
the  White  Rock  Mountain,  whose  cliffs  rise  steeply  over- 
head for  some  three  or  four  hundred  meters.  The  talus, 
which  was  doubtless  formed  by  a  great  slide  at  some 
distant  date,  consists  of  granite  boulders,  some  of  which 
are  big  ones.  The  ice-bearing  portion  may  be  some 
thirty  or  forty  meters  high  vertically.  It  lies  in  a  sort  of 
gully  or  rock  basin,  and  at  the  top  is  about  thirty  meters 
broad,  tapering  to  a  point  at  the  bottom.  The  talus  faces 
southward,  and  during  a  good  part  of  the  day  the  sun 
shines  full  upon  it.  A  thin  forest  fringes  the  sides  and 
grows  round  the  bottom,  but  this  can  afford  but  little 
protection  from  the  winds,  especially  to  those  from  the 
south. 

I  visited  this  place  on  the  5th  of  October,  1 899.  There 
was  a  distinct  drop  in  temperature  as  we  neared  the  base 
of  the  talus,  and  a  cool  air  drew  gently  down  over  the 
rocks.  I  think  slight  draughts  issued  from  some  of  the 
crevices ;  but  of  this  I  am  not  sure.  The  temperature  was 
sub-normal,  about  8°,  but  hardly  low  enough  to  prove  the 
presence  of  ice,  although  we  could  see  our  breaths  dis- 
tinctly. We  looked  carefully  under  a  number  of  the 
boulders,  but  neither  ice  nor  snow  was  visible.  I  was 
assured  that  ice  was  abundant  there  in  the  past  July 
and  August,  and  I  should  think  it  had  melted  away  only 
shortly  before  my  visit.  My  impression  is,  that  this  is  a 
periodic  glaciere. 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  IOI 

CAVES  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

On  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Petersburgh  Mountain  of 
the  Taghconic  Range  in  Massachusetts,  at  a  good  deal 
lower  altitude  than  the  Williamstown  Snow  Hole  and 
about  southeast  of  it  are  some  caverns,  which  are  but 
little  known.  A  five  or  six  kilometer  drive  from  Williams- 
town  takes  the  visitor  to  the  base  of  the  mountain,  whence 
a  rather  steep  ascent  of  about  a  kilometer  and  a  half 
brings  him  to  the  caves,  which  are  in  the  midst  of  a  dense, 
scrub  forest. 

The  caves  were  first  entered,  and  possibly  discovered, 
by  Mr.  W.  F.  Williams,  of  Williamstown,  when  a  boy. 
Since  then,  he  has  visited  them  many  times  and  explored 
them  a  good  deal.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  any  name 
as  yet,  and  it  would  seem  only  fitting  to  christen  them 
after  their  explorer  :  the  Williams  Caves. 

There  are  several  unimportant  holes  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  two  main  caves.  The  latter  lie  side 
by  side.  The  rock  formation  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Snow  Hole,  a  dark  gray  slate  with  a  few  veins  of  quartz, 
and  they  are  due  also  evidently  to  the  same  geological 
causes.  It  would  seem  as  though  the  mountain  had 
tended  to  open  or  crack  at  these  spots  and  fallen  apart. 
This  seems  probable,  because  wherever  there  is  a  pro- 
jection on  one  side  of  the  cracks,  there  is  a  correspond- 
ing hollow  in  the  opposite  side.  After  this,  water  action 
has  come,  and  erosion  and  corrosion  have  worn  out  and 
carried  away  earthy  matter,  and  slowly  deepened  and 


IO2          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

widened  the  fissures.  The  remarkable  point  in  con- 
nection with  the  main  caves,  however,  is  that  one  is  a 
normal  cave  and  the  other  a  periodic  glaciere. 

I  went  with  Mr.  Williams  to  these  caves  on  the  6th 
of  October,  1899,  and  partially  explored  the  glaciere. 
On  the  way  up,  just  as  we  left  the  carriage  road,  a  fine, 
three-year-old  buck,  in  his  winter  coat,  came  bounding  out 
of  the  forest ;  on  seeing  us  he  stopped,  and  after  taking 
a  good  look,  quietly  trotted  off  into  the  bushes. 

The  glaciere  is  rather  peculiar  in  shape  and  may  be 
described  as  two  storied.  A  long  slope,  set  at  an  angle 
of  some  forty  degrees,  and  covered  with  mud  and  dead 
leaves,  leads  down  into  the  crack,  which  is  from  one  to 
three  meters  in  width.  The  first  half  of  the  slope  is  open 
to  the  sky ;  the  last  half  is  covered  by  the  rock  roof, 
and  is  a  real  cave.  In  this  the  floor  is  horizontal,  the 
place  forming  a  little  chamber  in  which  the  daylight  has 
almost  vanished.  At  the  exact  summit  of  the  slope  a  big 
tree  grew  most  conveniently ;  and  we  tied  to  this  one 
end  of  a  twenty-meter  Austrian  Alpine  Club  rope,  and 
by  holding  fast  to  it,  and  kneeling  or  sitting  down  in  the 
mud  in  two  or  three  places,  the  descent  was  easy  enough. 
It  was  rather  difficult  to  scramble  up  the  slope  again, 
however. 

In  the  floor  of  the  little  chamber  there  are  two  holes, 
and,  stepping  over  these,  we  stood  at  the  rear  end,  about 
eighteen  meters  distant  from  the  beginning  of  the  slope. 
My  companion  now  set  some  birchbark  on  fire  and 
dropped  it  into  the  innermost  hole,  and  we  laid  down  in 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES. 


103 


turn,  flat  on  the  rock  floor,  and  craned  our  necks  through 
the  hole.  Mr.  Williams  thought  he  could  see  ice  below 
us.  I  looked  down  after  him  and  found  that  I  was  look- 
ing into  a  lower  chamber  whose  sides  were  invisible. 
The  floor  was  some  three  meters  below  vertically,  and  on 
this  the  birchbark  was  burning  brightly.  I  think  I  saw 


FIG.  10.   VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN. 

some  ice,  but  I  could  not  be  sure,  as  there  was  too  much 
smoke  to  see  distinctly.  My  companion  offered  to  go 
down  through  the  hole  and  get  some  ice ;  a  proposition  I 
promptly  vetoed,  as  had  anything  gone  wrong,  I  could 
not  possibly  have  given  him  any  assistance,  as  there  was 
no  extra  rope.  Mr.  Williams  told  me  that  he  went  down 
several  times  before  in  July  or  August,  and  always  found 


104          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ice  on  the  slanting  floor.  He  said  he  did  not  know  how 
far  this  lower  chamber  extended,  nor  the  length  of  the 
ice  floor.  One  thing  which  makes  me  hesitate  to  think 
that  we  saw  ice  was,  that  the  temperature  of  the  chamber 
where  we  were  was  not  at  all  icy;  but  probably — I  had 
forgotten  my  thermometer — nearly  normal. 

When  we  stood  once  more  by  the  tree  at  the  top  of 
the  slope,  the  mouth  of  another  cave  was  visible  about 
two  meters  below  us.  Mr.  Williams  said  it  had  never 
looked  more  than  a  little  crack  before,  and  that  the  open- 
ing was  much  bigger  than  at  his  last  visit.  It  was  directly 
under  the  slope  by  which  we  descended  and  it  vanished 
into  darkness.  Its  direction  led  straight  towards  the 
lower  chamber,  and  it  almost  surely  leads  to  it.  It  seems 
thus  that  there  are  two  hollows,  one  directly  above  the 
other;  and  that  the  lower  one  is  a  glaciere,  while  the 
upper  one  is  not.  The  cold  air  of  winter  would  naturally 
sink  into  the  lower  chamber,  and  the  spring  thaws  would 
furnish  plenty  of  drip,  so  that  this  place  seems  to  answer 
every  requirement  of  a  cave  glaciere. 

But  the  most  interesting  fact  about  these  caves  is 
that,  while  the  shallower  one  is  a  glaciere,  the  bigger 
and  deeper  one  is  not.  This  is  situated  about  ten  meters 
north  of  the  glaciere  and  the  direction  of  the  entrance 
is  about  the  same.  Mr.  Williams  has  found  snow  and 
ice  in  May  in  the  entrance  pit  as  far  as  the  daylight 
goes,  but  none  beyond.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the 
explanation  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  cave  is  a  gang- 
h'ohle  or  tunnel  cave.  Mr.  Williams  described  it  as  a 


EXPERIENCES    IN    GLACIERES.  1 05 

narrow  passage  with  chambers,  and  at  least  a  hundred 
meters  long,  and  fifty  meters  in  depth  below  the  surface. 
The  cold  air  sinks  in  a  certain  distance,  but  as  the  passage 
is  narrow  and  long,  and  too  winding  for  any  strong 
draughts,  the  cold  air  which  enters  is  soon  neutralized 
by  the  supply  of  warmer  air  within  and  by  contact  with 
the  rocks.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  it  is  by  some 
such  explanation  that  we  must  hope  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  why  certain  caves  are  glacieres  and  others  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  normal  caves ;  and  the  caves 
near  Williamstown  are  exceptional  in  presenting  the 
problem  so  patently. 


PART   II 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE. 


THE  CAUSES    OF    SUBTERRANEAN    ICE. 


I. 

Terminology. — Ice  enduring  the  entire  year  is  found, 
in  temperate  latitudes,  in  a  variety  of  forms  and  in 
several  different  kinds  of  places.  In  some  cases  it  is 
entirely  above  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  in  others  it  is 
entirely  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth.  These  are  the 
extremes,  and  between  them  there  are  certain  interme- 
diate forms.  The  perennial  ice  above  ground  of  tem- 
perate regions  has  gradually  become  known  in  English 
by  the  French  word  glacier •,  but  strange  to  say,  there  is 
no  term  in  use  in  English  which  accurately  describes  the 
perennial  ice  formations  which  are  partially  or  completely 
underground.  Thus  the  term  "ice  cave"  is  applied  to 
a  rock  cavern  containing  ice,  and  the  term  "  ice  gorge  " 
to  a  rock  gorge  containing  ice.  Both  terms  are  mis- 
leading, because  the  character  of  the  contents  is  men- 
tioned before  the  nature  of  the  geological  formation.  We 
say  correctly  enough  "  limestone  cave "  or  "  lava  cave " 
and,  in  my  opinion,  we  should  apply  the  term  "  ice  cave" 
in  a  similar  manner  to  the  hollows  in  the  ice  at  the  lower 
end  of  glaciers,  whence  the  glacier  waters  make  their 
exit.  These  are  really  "ice  caves,"  that  is  caves  with 

(109) 


IIO         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

sides  and  roof  made  of  ice.  Another  trouble  of  the  term 
"ice  cave,"  as  applied  to  rock  formations  containing 
ice,  is  that  it  is  not  generic :  not  only  is  it  incorrect,  but 
also  it  is  not  comprehensive.  It  does  not  apply  to  mines, 
tunnels,  wells,  gullies,  boulder  taluses,  or  underground 
ice  sheets.  If  "  ice  cave "  is  used,  except  in  its  true 
sense  of  glacier  ice  cave,  it  seems  at  least  as  though  it 
should  be  so  only  for  real  caves  which  retain  ice,  as 
opposed  to  taluses  and  wells.  Curiously  enough,  the 
Germans  are  just  as  inaccurate  as  ourselves,  for  their 
terms  eishohle  and  eisloch  are  absolute  translations  of  our 
"  ice  cave "  and  "  ice  hole."  Indeed,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  some  of  the  incorrect  notions  about  subterranean 
ice  formations,  are  due  to  the  inaccuracy  of  the  ter- 
minology. 

The  only  language,  so  far  as  I  know,  which  has  a 
correct  and  really  generic  term  for  subterranean  ice 
formations,  is  the  French  in  its  word  glaciere.  The 
French  and  Swiss  say  glacieres  naturelles  of  ice  deposits 
formed  naturally  underground ;  and  glacieres  artificielles 
of  ice  houses.  Glaciere  naturelle  is  comprehensive  and 
accurate.  It  covers  all  the  rock  formations  and  suggests 
also  the  mode  of  formation  of  the  ice.  It  likewise  implies 
the  strong  resemblance  between  natural  ice  deposits  and 
artificial  ice  houses.  It  might  be  well,  therefore,  if  the 
French  term  glaciere  were  adopted  as  a  generic  term  for 
all  underground  ice  formations.  As,  however,  there  is 
little  likelihood  of  this  happening,  the  question  arises  as 
to  the  best  English  equivalent  or  equivalents.  These 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         Ill 

seem  to  be  "  freezing  cavern,  freezing  talus,"  etc.,  "  natural 
refrigerator  "  or  "  subterranean  ice  formation."  "  Natural 
refrigerator"  and  "subterranean  ice  formation"  are  more 
generic  than  "  freezing  cavern,  freezing  well,"  etc. ;  but 
the  latter  have  the  advantage  of  suggesting  immediately 
that  reference  is  made  to  the  hollows  of  the  earth  which 
at  times  contain  ice ;  and,  therefore,  they  are  the  best 
terms,  perhaps,  which  can  be  chosen  in  English. 

Another  point  in  the  terminology  of  this  subject 
has  reference  to  subterranean  hollows  where  draughts 
issue  or  enter.  Such  hollows  are  found  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  and  are  known  usually  in  English  as  "blow- 
ing caves  "  or  "cold  current  caves."  The  Germans  speak 
of  them  as  windrbhren  or  windlocher.  In  my  first  pa- 
per about  caves,12  I  used  the  word  "  windhole "  which 
I  translated  from  the  German.  The  term  "  windhole " 
seems  to  me  preferable  to  "blowing  cave"  or  "cold 
current  cave "  in  that  it  is  more  generic.  It  applies  to 
taluses  or  boulder  heaps,  or  in  fact,  to  any  hollows 
where  draughts  issue  or  enter,  whether  these  hollows 
are  genuine  caverns  or  not. 

It  is  necessary  also  to  explain  here  that  "  glaciere " 
and  "windhole"  are  not  synonymous  terms.  It  must  be 
understood  that  a  glaciere  or  natural  refrigerator  is  a 
place  where  ice  forms  and  endures  in  a  subterranean 
or  semi-subterranean  situation  ;  and  that  the  presence  of 
ice  is  the  criterion  of  whether  a  place  is  or  is  not  a 

13  fee  Caves  and  the  Causes  of  Subterranean  Ice,  November  1896, 
and  March  1897. 


112         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

glaciere.  Likewise  it  must  be  understood  that  a  wind- 
hole  or  blowing  cave  is  an  underground  hollow  with  at 
least  two  openings,  and  in  which  distinct  draughts  occur ; 
and  that  the  presence  of  draughts  is  necessary  to  consti- 
tute a  place  a  windhole  or  blowing  cave.  A  freezing 
cavern  may  or  may  not  be  a  windhole,  and  a  windhole 
may  or  may  not  be  a  freezing  cavern. 

Temperatures. — The  phenomena  of  glacieres  are  so 
closely  connected  with  temperatures  that  it  seems  nec- 
essary at  this  point  to  mention  some  general  facts  in 
connection  with  subterranean  temperatures,  even  if  these 
still  form  a  subject  of  some  uncertainty,  and  one  about 
which  further  observation  is  desirable.  Subterranean 
temperatures  may  be  grouped  under  three  heads :  i , 
Ordinary  or  normal  temperatures ;  2,  Temperatures 
above  the  normal  or  super-normal  temperatures ;  3, 
Temperatures  below  the  normal  or  sub-normal  tem- 
peratures. 

i.  In  the  great  majority  of  caves,  cellars  and  subter- 
ranean places  of  all  descriptions,  the  temperature  of  the 
air  is  about  the  same,  all  the  year  round,  as  that  of  the 
ground.  The  frost  of  winter  and  the  heat  of  summer 
penetrate  the  earth  for  some  trivial  distance,  a  few 
meters  perhaps,  and  lower  or  raise  the  temperature  of 
the  ground  temporarily.  Below  this  there  is  a  stratum 
where  the  temperature  is  found  to  vary  but  little  the  en- 
tire year  and  which,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  approximates 
the  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  district.  Below 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.          113 

this  invariable  stratum,  the  temperature  generally  rises 
slowly,  not  at  exactly  the  same  rate  everywhere,  but  in  a 
regular  increase.  This  increase  of  temperature  averages 
i°  C.  for  every  32  meters.  As  most  caves  and  cellars 
are  of  small  depth  and  as  they  take  their  temperatures 
from  that  of  the  ground,  it  follows  that  as  a  rule  their 
temperatures  are  moderate  and  pleasant.  And  as  the 
air  of  the  majority  of  caves  and  subterranean  hollows 
is  about  the  same  as  the  temperature  of  the  surround- 
ing rock,  it  is  correct  to  call  subterranean  air  tempera- 
tures closely  approximating  the  ordinary  temperature  of 
the  ground,  ordinary  or  normal  temperatures. 

As  already  stated,  with  an  increase  of  depth,  there 
is,  in  almost  all  cases,  a  regular  increase  of  temperature. 
For  this  reason,  mines,  which  are  much  the  deepest  hol- 
lows reached  by  man  in  the  surface  of  the  earth,  are,  as  a 
rule,  warmer  in  the  lower  levels :  if  deep,  they  are  also 
hot.  And  this  is  so  generally  the  case  that  warmer 
temperatures  at  the  bottom  of  mines  may  be  consid- 
ered as  normal. 

2.  In  a  few  hollows  close  to  the  surface,  there  are 
temperatures  much  above  the  normal  temperature  of  the 
ground.  Such  places  are  rare  and  abnormal.13  The 
heat  is  generally  due  to  the  presence  of  hot  springs  or 
to  some  volcanic  action  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
In  the  case  of  one  cave  close  to  the  surface,  the  heat 
is  due  to  some  limekilns  which  are  situated  immediately 

18  Kraus.     Hohlenkunde,  page  86. 


114          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

overhead.14     Where    these   warm    hollows    are    genuine 
caves  it  seems  proper  to  call  them  "  hot  caves." 

3.  In  a  number  of  places,  there  are  abnormally  low 
temperatures  underground  either  for  the  whole  or  only 
for  part  of  the  year.  Although  commoner  than  hot  caves, 
yet  the  underground  places  with  low  temperatures  are 
also  rare  and  abnormal.  They  may  be  divided  into  two 
groups :  i ,  Those  where  the  temperatures  are  lower 
than  the  normal,  without  becoming  low  enough  for  ice 
to  form ;  and  2,  Those  where  the  temperature  sinks  so 
low,  that  ice  forms. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  definite  divisions  among  the 
various  forms  of  natural  refrigerators,  but  it  is  correct, 
probably,  to  classify  them  under  five  heads,  in  accordance 
with  the  different  kinds  of  formations  of  the  hollows  in 
the  rocks : 

1.  Gullies,  gorges,  and  troughs  where  ice  and  snow 
remain. 

2.  Soil  or  rocks  overlaying  ice  sheets. 

3.  Taluses  and  boulder  heaps  retaining  ice. 

4.  Wells,  mines  and  tunnels  in  which  ice  sometimes 
forms. 

5.  Caves  with  abnormally  low  temperatures,  and  often 
containing  ice. 

i.  Gorges  and  Troughs. — Gullies,  gorges  and  basins 
which  retain  snow  and  ice  are  fairly  numerous  in  moun- 

"Grotte  du  Jaur.     Les  Abimes,  page  160. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         115 

tain  districts.  They  are  generally  ravines,  or  rock 
fissures,  or  hollows,  in  positions  below  the  snow  line 
where  snow  and  ice  are  sufficiently  protected,  from  sun 
and  wind,  to  remain  long  after  snow  in  the  surround- 
ing open  country,  at  the  same  altitude,  has  melted 
away.  Some  of  these  gorges  are  small,  some  big.  As 
a  rule,  they  are  deep  and  narrow. 

In  north-eastern  Siberia,  a  form  of  permanent  surface 
ice  is  found,  which  the  Tungusses  speak  of  as  tarinnen, 
which  means  "  ice  troughs "  or  "ice  valleys." 15 
These  tarinnen  are  broad  valleys,  with  either  a  hori- 
zontal floor  or  one  sloping  gently  in  the  form  of  a 
trough,  over  which  the  ice  is  spread  in  the  form  of 
.a  sheet.  The  Tungusses  assert  that  the  ice  in  some 
of  these  troughs  never  wholly  melts  away,  although  it 
lessens  in  quantity  from  the  beginning  of  May  till  the 
end  of  August,  after  which  it  once  more  increases. 

Subterranean  Ice  Sheets. — In  several  places  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  world  there  are  underground  ice  sheets 
which  extend  over  large  spaces ;  they  are  common  under 
the  tundras  of  Alaska;  and  there  are  fine  examples 
on  Kotzebue  Sound, 16  on  the  Kowak  River, 17  and 
along  the  Yukon  River.18  The  "Ice  Spring"  in  Oregon 

15  Bulletin  de  la  classe  physico-mathematique  de  V Academic  Im- 
ptriale  des  Sciences  de  St.  Petersbourg.  1853.  Vol.  XI,  pages  305- 
316. 

16 See  Part  III:  page  167. 

17 See  Part  III:  page  167. 

18 See  Part  III:  page  166. 


Il6          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

seems  to  be  a  formation  of  the  same  kind.  Several  ex- 
amples of  these  subterranean  ice  sheets  are  reported 
also  from  different  parts  of  the  Russian  Empire. 

A  somewhat  different  kind  of  ice  sheet  was  observed 
on  Mount  Etna.  Sir  Charles  Lyell19  speaks  of  it 
as  a  "  glacier  preserved  by  a  covering  of  lava."  He 
says  Signor  Mario  Gemmellaro  satisfied  himself  that 
nothing  but  a  flowing  of  lava  over  snow  could  account 
for  the  position  of  the  glacier.  Ice  sheets  somewhat 
similar  to  these  are  reported  from  Tierra  del  Fuego,20 
and  probably  also  such  sheets  occur  in  Iceland ;  and 
enormous  heaps  of  ice  covered  with  sand  are  found 
on  Mount  Chimborazo.21  On  the  northwestern  coast 
of  Greenland,  glaciers,  whose  flow  has  stopped,  were 
observed  buried  under  an  accumulation  of  moss  and 
grass.22 

Taluses  and  Boulder  Heaps. — Taluses  and  broken 
debris,  and  in  general  boulder  heaps  of  all  sorts,  have 
interstices  and  openings  between  the  boulders,  and  in 
these  it  occasionally  happens  that  ice  is  found.  This  is 
most  common  among  the  taluses  at  the  base  of  cliffs, 
but  in  some  cases  ice  is  found  among  broken  rocks  on 
the  sides  of  gently  sloping  hills,  or  even  on  the  plateaus 
of  their  summits.  Sometimes  the  ice  and  snow  on  the 

19  Principles  of  Geology,  i  ith  Edition,  Chap.  XXVI. 

20  See  Part  III :  page  190. 
"See  Part  III:  page  189. 
12  See  Part  III :  page  165. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         117 

bottom  of  rock  gorges  all  melts  away,  while  further 
down,  in  the  hollows  of  the  boulders  forming  the  floor, 
ice  still  remains.  The  rocks  of  which  these  ice  bearing 
taluses  are  formed  are  generally  gneiss,  granite,  lime- 
stone, sandstone,  basalt  or  porphyry.  Among  such  boul- 
der taluses  the  phenomenon  designated  as  Windrohren 
or  Ventarolen,  that  is,  windholes,  is  frequently  found. 
Sometimes  the  air  among  such  boulder  formations  is 
quiet,  but  as  a  general  thing  draughts  pour  out  at  the 
lower  openings  during  the  hot  months,  and  blow  into 
them  during  the  cold  ones. 

Freezing  Wells,  Mines  and  Tunnels. — Subterranean 
ice  is  also  found  in  certain  places  in  connection  with 
man's  handiwork.  In  a  few  wells  in  the  United  States, 
the  temperature  in  winter  becomes  abnormally  low,  and 
for  four  or  five  months  these  wells  freeze  up  and  be- 
come useless.  A  case  of  a  freezing  well  was  recently  ob- 
served near  la  Ferte  Milon  in  Central  France.23  Ice  is 
reported  also  as  forming  in  various  mines  in  Europe, 
Asia  and  America;  in  fact,  it  is  not  an  uncommon  oc- 
currence. Occasionally,  also,  ice  forms  in  tunnels. 

Cold  Caves. — Caves  with  abnormally  low  temperatures 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes.  First,  caves  where  the 
temperatures  are  lower  than  the  normal,  without  be- 
coming low  enough  for  ice  to  form ;  and  second,  caves 
where  the  temperatures  sink  so  low,  that  ice  forms. 

23  See  Part  I. :  pages  74,  79,  89.     Part  III.  :  page  206. 


Il8         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Caves  where  the  temperatures  sink  below  the  normal, 
but  in  which  ice  does  not  form  either  in  winter  or  in 
summer,  are  found  in  several  places  in  different  parts  of 
the  world.  They  are  termed  in  French  cavernes  froides 
and  in  German  kcdte  Jwhlen.  There  are  but  few  data 
from  reliable  observers  about  such  cold  caves.  Some 
descriptions  are  given  without  thermometric  measure- 
ments, and  the  statements  that  the  caves  are  cold,  mean 
nothing  beyond  the  fact  that  they  feel  colder  than  the 
outside  air.  It  is,  however,  conclusively  proved  that  cold 
caves  exist,  and  that  while  they  are  not  freezing  caverns, 
yet  that  they  have  a  temperature  lower  than  the  mean 
annual  temperature  of  their  district.  In  fact,  the  assump- 
tion, which  had  passed  into  an  axiom,  that  caves  always 
have  the  same  temperatures  as  the  mean  annual  temper- 
ature of  the  district,  must  certainly  be  given  up.  Cold 
caves  are  generally  in  one  of  two  shapes :  i,  in  the  shape 
of  a  sand  glass, — two  cones  above  each  other  meeting 
at  the  narrowest  point — where  the  upper  cone  lets  the 
heavy  cold  air  descend  easily,  while  the  lower  bell  shaped 
cone  prevents  its  escape ;  and  2,  where  two  sink  holes 
open  into  one  pit,  which  is  in  the  shape  of  a  bell.24 

Glaciere  Caves  or  Freezing  Caves. — Caves  where  the 
temperatures  sink  so  low  that  ice  is  able  to  form,  are 
found  in  many  different  rock  formations  and  in  various 
positions,  shapes  and  sizes.  The  rock  formation  of  freez- 

24  Les  Abimes,  page  563. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         119 

ing  caverns  is  generally  limestone,  but  sometimes  it  is 
marble,  lava,  basalt,  gneiss  or  granite.  In  all  cases,  how- 
ever, the  rock  is  either  porous  or  else  it  is  broken  and 
fissured,  as  otherwise  the  water  supply  necessary  to  the 
formation  of  ice  could  not  find  its  way  in. 

Glaciere  caverns  may,  for  the  sake  of  convenience, 
be  classified  into  several  classes,  according  to  their  posi- 
tion or  to  their  form.  The  lines  of  transition  between 
them,  however,  are  so  indefinite  in  nature,  that  it  is  often 
difficult  to  specify  a  cavern  as  belonging  to  any  special 
type.  The  most  important  factor  in  classifying  glaciere 
caves  is  their  position.  Under  this  head  there  are  two 
main  divisions :  first,  pit  caves  ;  second,  cliff  caves. 

Pit  caves  are  those  where  a  pit  or  pits  open  into  the 
ground,  and  the  ice  is  found  at  the  bottom.  Sometimes 
there  is  no  roof,  when  the  place  may  be  called  a  gorge : 
this  occurs  at  Ellenville,  where  the  roof  has  fallen. 
Again,  the  pit  itself  is  more  or  less  roofed  over  and 
the  ice  is  found  mainly  or  wholly  under  the  roof:  this 
is  the  case  at  Haut  d'Aviernoz,  at  the  Friedrichsteiner- 
hohle,  at  Saint-Livres,  and  at  Saint-Georges.  Sometimes 
the  pit  takes  the  form  of  a  descending  tunnel,  leading 
into  a  hall  or  chamber,  in  which  the  ice  lies  under  a 
rock  roof:  this  happens  at  Chaux-les-Passavant.  In 
all  these  pit  caves  the  body  of  the  cave  is  below  the 
entrance,  and  most  of  them  are  fairly  well  lighted  by 
daylight  throughout.  Generally  there  is  only  one  pit, 
but  occasionally  there  are  two  connected  underground, 
as  is  the  case  at  La  Genolliere. 


i2O  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Cliff  caves  are  those  where  the  entrance  is  at  the 
base  or  in  the  side  of  a  cliff.  Frequently  the  cave  is  in 
the  shape  of  a  hall  or  chamber,  which  begins  directly  at 
the  entrance,  and  which  may  be  large  or  small.  This 
kind  always  has  a  down  slope  directly  from  the  mouth. 
The  Kolowratshohle,  Dobsina  and  the  Grand  Cave  de 
Montarquis  may  be  mentioned  as  examples.  In  some 
cases  there  is  a  pit  at  the  base  of  a  cliff  and  there  is 
a  slope  leading  down  to  the  cave,  somewhat  in  the  form 
of  a  tunnel :  this  is  the  case  at  Manchester  and  practi- 
cally also  at  Roth.  Again  there  is  a  more  or  less  long 
gallery  between  the  entrance  and  the  glaciere,  which 
is  always  below  the  level  of  the  entrance.  The  Schaf- 
loch,  Demenyfalva  and  Decorah  may  be  cited  as  ex- 
amples. As  a  rule  the  gallery  slopes  down  from  the 
entrance,  but  sometimes  the  floor  rises  and  then  sinks 
to  the  glaciere.  The  top  of  the  entrance,  however,  is 
always  higher  than  the  highest  point  of  the  floor,  as 
otherwise  the  cold  air  could  not  get  in.  This  is  the 
case  at  the  Frauenmauerhohle,  and,  apparently,  also  at 
the  Posselthohle.  In  one  case,  at  Amarnath  in  Kash- 
mere,  the  floor  is  said  to  rise  to  the  roof  at  the  back ; 
but  as  the  entrance  is  nearly  as  big  as  the  floor  area, 
the  ice  formations  must  also  be  below  the  level  of  the 
top  of  the  entrance. 

The  dimensions  of  glaciere  caves  vary  greatly.  Some 
are  large,  others  are  small.  Saint  Georges,  a  roofed  pit 
cave,  is  some  twenty-five  meters  by  twelve  meters,  with 
a  depth  of  about  twelve  meters.  Chaux-les-Passavant, 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         121 

a  cave  at  the  end  of  a  pit  tunnel,  has  a  diameter  of 
some  twenty-seven  meters.  The  measures  of  Dobsina, 
a  cave  at  the  bottom  of  a  cliff,  are  given  as  follows : 
Height  of  roof  above  ice  floor,  10  to  n  meters;  length 
1 20  meters;  breadth,  35  to  60  meters,  and  surface 
about  4644  meters.  The  Frauenmauerhohle  is  a  gallery 
about  one  hundred  meters  long  before  the  ice  floor  is 
reached,  and  this  is  some  fifty  meters  more  in  length  by 
about  seven  meters  in  width.  The  glaciere  cave  near 
Frain,  on  the  contrary,  is  so  small  that  one  can  only 
crawl  in  some  two  or  three  meters.  In  fact,  glaciere 
caves  vary  in  size  between  great  halls  and  little  tunnels 
where  one  cannot  stand  up  straight. 

The  entrances  of  glaciere  caves  also  vary  greatly  in 
their  dimensions.  For  instance,  the  Friedrichsteinerhohle 
is  on  one  side  of  a  huge  pit  and  is  as  large  and  deep  as 
the  pit.  Saint  Georges,  on  the  contrary,  has,  near  one 
end  of  the  roof,  a  couple  of  holes,  some  three  meters  in 
diameter.  The  entrance  to  the  Schafloch  is  four  meters 
wide  by  four  meters  seventy  centimeters  high,  while  the 
entrance  to  Roth  is  not  over  one  meter  each  way. 

A  classification  of  subterranean  ice  formations,  and 
one  which  applies  to  all  the  different  forms,  is  into  per- 
manent and  periodic  glacieres.  When  in  any  underground 
spot,  ice  remains  throughout  the  year,  the  place  may  be 
called  a  permanent  glaciere  ;  when  on  the  contrary  the  ice 
melts  away  for  part  of  the  year,  the  place  may  be  called 
a  periodic  glaciere.  This  classification,  which  several  ob- 
servers have  used  already,  is  convenient  and  valuable. 


122         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Movements  of  Air. — Another  classification  of  glacieres 
can  be  made  in  accordance  with  the  movements  of  air 
underground.  Glacieres  may  be  divided  into  those  where 
there  are  no  strong  draughts  in  summer  and  those  where 
there  are  draughts  :  or  into  "  apparently  static  caves " ; 
and  "dynamic  caves"  or  "windholes."  The  first  class 
includes  those  caves  where  there  is  one  or  more  open- 
ings close  together  and  those  above  the  body  of  the 
cave.  In  such  hollows  the  air  in  summer  is  nearly  still, 
while  in  winter  there  are  distinct  rotary  movements  of 
the  air  as  soon  as  the  temperature  outside  is  lower  than 
that  within.  Almost  all  glaciere  caves  belong  to  this 
class  of  caves  without  strong  draughts  in  summer.  Some- 
times, however,  ice  is  found  in  hollows  where  there  are 
two  or  more  openings,  at  different  altitudes  and  at  dif- 
ferent ends  of  the  hollow,  and  where  there  are  draughts. 
Occasionally,  also,  there  are  fissures  in  the  sides  or  rear 
of  apparently  static  caves,  which  allow  something  like 
draughts  at  times,  as  is  the  case  at  the  Grand  Cave  de 
Montarquis. 

Professor  Thury  of  Geneva  coined  the  terms  "static 
cave"  and  "dynamic  cave"  which  have  come  largely  into 
use  since,  and  which  practically  correspond  to  the  German 
terms  eiskokle  and  windrohre.  I  do  not  think  the  term 
"static  cave"  accurate,  and  prefer  the  term  "apparently 
static  cave  "  or  "  cave  without  distinct  draughts."  For  al- 
though there  are  many  caves  where  the  air  seems  stagnant 
at  times,  and  there  are  no  distinct  perceptible  draughts, 
still  that  the  air  is  really  stagnant  all  summer  appears  to 


THE   CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  1 23 

me  doubtful,  and  it  seems  as  if  the  movements  of 
air  were  distinctly  apparent  only  in  certain  caves  and 
not  in  others.  Air  which  is  apparently  stagnant  is 
found  in  both  pit  and  cliff  caves  mainly  in  the  sum- 
mer months,  but  even  in  these  I  have  noticed  several 
times  in  summer  slight  movements  of  air,  especially 
near  the  entrance.  I  could  not  exactly  feel  the  air 
moving,  but  by  lighting  a  cigar  the  smoke  could  be 
seen  borne  outwards  exceedingly  slowly.  At  the  en- 
trance of  the  Kolowratshohle  I  think  there  was  a  faint 
outward  current  when  I  was  there.  The  day  was  hot 
and  windless,  and  as  the  cold  air  met  the  hot  outside 
air  it  formed  a  faint  cloud  or  mist  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cavern.  At  Saint-Georges,  although  the  air  seemed  tran- 
quil, I  found  that  the  smoke  of  my  cigar  ascended  rapidly 
just  below  the  hole  in  the  roof,  showing  an  ascending 
air  current.  In  the  double  cave  of  Chapuis,  I  found 
one  cavern  filled  by  a  little  lake  over  which  there  was  a 
draught.25 

From  the  few  winter  observations  we  have,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  in  winter  the  movements  of  the  atmos- 
phere are  lively,  the  break  in  the  air  column  occurring 
as  soon  as  the  outside  temperature  is  lower  than  that 
within,  when  the  outer  air  immediately  begins  to  sink 
into  the  cave.26 

If  I  have  doubts  as  to  the  existence  of  absolutely  static 

25  See  Part  IV. :  Butler,  page  308. 

26  See  Part   III. :   Chaux-les-Passavant,   page  203 ;  Saint-Georges, 
page  220. 


124         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

caves,  it  is  different  about  dynamic  caves.  When  a  sub- 
terranean hollow  goes  through  rocks,  with  one  opening 
higher  than  the  other,  there  will  surely  be  distinct  draughts. 
These  dynamic  caves  exist  in  many  parts  of  the  world 
under  such  names  as  cold  current  caves  or  blowing  caves 
or  windholes.  Sometimes  they  are  fissures  in  broken 
limestone.  Often  they  are  the  cracks  between  piles  of 
boulders.  A  cool  air  generally  pours  from  the  lower 
opening  in  summer  while  the  cold  air  pours  into  it  in 
winter,  the  draught  being  then  reversed.  At  the  upper 
opening  the  operation  takes  place  in  the  opposite  way, 
the  hot  air  being  sucked  in  in  summer,  and  given  out 
in  winter.  Sometimes,  however,  changes  take  place,  ac- 
cording to  the  differences  in  the  outside  temperature,  in  the 
direction  of  the  air  current  in  the  course  of  a  single  day. 
The  causes  of  the  movements  of  air  in  these  wind- 
holes  are  exceedingly  simple.  The  movements  of  air 
depend  on  the  fact  that  in  summer  the  air  in  the  tube 
becomes  colder  from  contact  with  the  rocks  and,  there- 
fore, heavier  than  the  air  outside,  and  by  gravity  the 
heavy  inside  air  displaces  the  lighter  outside  air  and 
comes  rushing  out  at  the  lower  opening.  This  leaves  a 
vacuum,  which  is  filled  by  the  warmer  air  dropping  into 
the  tube  from  above.  In  winter  on  the  contrary,  the  air 
within  the  tube  is  warmed  by  contact  with  the  rocks  and 
becomes  lighter  than  the  air  outside.  It,  therefore,  rises 
and  streams  out  from  the  upper  opening,  and  the  vacuum 
is  filled  by  the  heavy  cold  air  pushing  in  at  the  lower 
opening. 


THE    CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE. 

G.  F.  Parrot's27  explanation  is  so  satisfactory  that  I 
give  it  with  one  or  two  changes.  He  considers  the  air 
movements  an  ordinary  statical  phenomenon  of  the  air, 
in  caves  which  have  two  openings  at  different  altitudes. 


FIG.  ii.    VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  A  WINDHOLE. 

Let  E  G  D  represent  the  section  of  such  a  cave  with 
the  openings  A  and  B.  Let  us  think  that  there  are  over 
C  and  B  two  vertical  air  columns  and  from  B  to  C  a 
horizontal  air  column  B  C ;  then  the  two  air  columns  over 
B  and  C  are  at  all  times  of  the  year  equal  in  weight.  Not 
so  the  air  columns  A  C  and  A  E  G  D  B,  because  their 


27  Grundriss  der  Physik  der  Erde  und  Geologic,  1815,  pages  92-99. 


126          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

temperatures  are  different.  Assume  the  temperature  in 
the  cave  G  is  4-  12°  the  whole  year  round.  If  in  sum- 
mer the  air  column  A  C  is  at  a  temperature  of  +  25°, 
then  the  heavy  air  in  the  cave  G  pours  out  through  A  and 
is  replaced  by  air  flowing  in  through  B.  If  in  winter  the 
air  column  A  C  is  at  a  temperature  of  —  i°,  then  the 
air  pours  with  equal  inverse  velocity  at  A  into  the  cave, 
and  out  at  B.  The  velocity  of  the  current  in  both  cases 
depends  on  the  difference  of  temperature  within  and 
without. 

The  foregoing  explanation  makes  it  evident  that  the 
movements  of  air  in  these  windholes  do  not  depend  on 
the  presence  of  ice.  In  many  of  those  I  have  examined 
myself  there  was  no  ice  visible,  and  from  the  temper- 
ature of  the  air  current,  there  could  not  have  been  any 
ice  within  the  mountain.  Still,  there  are  numerous  cases 
where  ice  is  found  in  windholes  among  boulders,  and 
a  few  cases  where  windholes  exist  in  connection  with 
apparently  static  glaciere  caves.  Undoubtedly  the  great 
majority  of  windholes  do  not  contain  ice  in  summer,  or, 
indeed,  at  any  time  of  the  year,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
windholes,  according  to  their  temperatures,  belong  rather 
to  the  class  of  normal  caves  than  to  that  of  glacieres. 

Forms  of  Ice. — Almost  all  the  forms  assumed  by  un- 
derground ice  are  different  from  those  assumed  by  over- 
ground ice.  This  is  not  surprising,  as  the  conditions, 
under  which  the  ice  is  formed,  are  so  different.  Almost 
all  the  lines  of  underground  ice  are  rounded.  The  sharp 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         127 

angles  and  fractures  visible  on  glacier  or  iceberg  are 
absent.  Instead  of  seracs  and  crevasses,  broken  ice  falls, 
or  piled  up  ice  floes,  we  have  hanging  stalactites  and  ris- 
ing stalagmites,  smooth  ice  floors  and  curved  ice  slopes. 
This  difference  is  of  course  due  to  the  fact  that  most 
subterranean  ice  is  formed  from  the  drip  from  the  roof 
or  the  sides  of  caves,  and  because  the  factor  of  mo- 
tion— which  plays  so  large  a  part  in  the  shaping  by 
fracture  of  overground  ice — is  practically  wanting. 

The  most  striking  forms  of  subterranean  ice  are  the 
ice  stalactites  and  stalagmites.  They  descend  from  the 
roof  as  icicles  or  rise  from  it  as  rough  cones  or  pyra- 
mids. The  icicles  are  of  all  sorts  of  shapes  and  sizes  : 
sometimes  they  are  tiny ;  sometimes  they  grow  down- 
ward till  they  reach  the  floor  and  form  regular  columns, 
in  some  cases  no  less  than  eleven  meters  in  height. 

The  ice  stalagmites  likewise  are  of  all  sorts  of  shapes 
and  sizes,  some  of  them  growing  to  a  height  of  seven 
or  eight  meters.  Occasionally  they  have  hollow  bases, 
but  this  is  rare.  How  these  hollow  cones  are  formed  is 
a  still  uncertain  matter ;  but  it  is  in  some  way  by  the 
action  of  the  drip.  At  the  Kolowratshohle  I  saw  the  drip 
from  the  roof  cutting  out  in  July  the  basin,  whose  tall  re- 
maining sides  suggested  that  early  in  the  spring  it  was 
probably  a  hollow  cone.  The  cone  at  the  Schafloch  of 
which  I  saw  one  half  remaining,  could  only  be  accounted 
for  by  some  action  from  the  drip.28  The  warmth  of  the 

28  See  Part  IV.  :  Thury,  page  287  ;  Browne,  page  290. 


128         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

rock  floor  may  help  perhaps  also,  in  melting  away  some 
of  the  base  of  the  hollow  columns. 

The  frozen  waterfalls  which  issue  from  fissures  in 
the  rock  walls  of  caves  are  another  form  of  ice  seen 
only  below  ground.  For  lack  of  a  better  name,  I  call 
them  fissure  columns.  A  peculiarity  of  these  is  that, 
while  the  rock  fissure  is  more  or  less  rectangular  or  at 
least  sharp  angled,  the  ice  column  issues  in  a  rounded 
stream.  Sometimes  these  fissure  columns  stream  over 
the  rock;  sometimes  they  spring  out  far  enough  from 
the  rock  to  be  quite  away  from  it.  They  vary  from 
about  one  to  five  meters  in  height,  and  at  the  base 
they  almost  always  spread  out  in  a  shape  resembling 
that  of  a  fan. 

The  ice  on  the  bottom  of  caverns  of  course  takes  its 
shape  from  the  form  and  angles  of  the  floor  of  the  caves. 
If  the  bottom  is  level  or  nearly  so,  the  ice  lies  on  it  as 
a  sheet  or  floor.  If  the  bottom  of  the  cave  is  sloping,  the 
ice  follows  the  angles  of  the  slope,  forming  an  ice  slope 
or  ice  wall,  and  sometimes  becoming  nearly  or  quite 
vertical.  These  ice  slopes  distantly  resemble  the  por- 
tions of  glaciers  called  an  ice  fall,  with  the  great  dif- 
ference, however,  that  there  are  no  crevasses,  not  even 
tiny  ones. 

Occasionally,  slabs  of  ice  are  found  reposing  in  a 
fractured  sheet  over  a  solid  ice  floor.  This  means 
that  a  lake  has  formed  on  this  spot  in  the  spring,  frozen 
over,  and  then  run  off,  leaving  its  frozen  surface  in 
broken  pieces  on  top  of  the  under  ice. 


THE    CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  129 

Another  kind  of  frozen  water  is  the  hoar  frost  which 
forms  on  the  rock  roofs  and  walls.  This  is  not  at  all 
rare.  It  is  an  open  question  whether  this  is  not  the 
same  thing  as  that  which  has  been  described  as  subterra- 
nean snow.29  I  found  myself  in  Dobsina  a  small  sheet  of 
what  to  look  and  touch  was  snow.  I  wrote  of  this  as 
snow  in  my  first  paper  about  glacieres30,  but  I  am  of 
the  opinion  now  that  it  was  the  hoar  frost  detached 
from  the  roof  and  not  genuine  snow. 

At  Dobsina,  also,  I  noticed  that  the  ice  of  the  ice 
wall  of  the  Korridor  assumed  a  stratified  or  laminated 
form.  Mr.  John  F.  Lewis  of  Philadelphia  suggested  to 
me  that  this  was  probably  due  to  a  precipitation  of  the 
hoar  frost  from  the  roof,  and  I  think  his  explanation  is 
correct.  The  hoar  frost  forming  at  a  certain  degree  of 
cold,  would  doubtless  be  precipitated  at  a  rise  of  tem- 
perature, and  would  then  act  much  as  do  the  different 
layers  of  snow  in  the  upper  portion  of  glaciers.31  It 
would  consolidate  gradually,  layer  over  layer,  and  form 
strata,  producing  the  banded  or  laminated  structure 
visible  in  the  vertical  ice  of  the  Dobsina  Korridor. 

The  ice  in  caverns  is  sometimes  found  with  a 
structure  which  is,  I  believe,  of  rare  occurrence  above 
ground.  This  is  when  it  takes  the  shape  known  as 
prismatic  ice,  which  means  that  if  a  lump  is  broken 

29  See  Part  III.  :  Ziegenloch,  page  247  ;  Creux  de  Souci,  page  207. 

30  Ice  Caves  and  the  Causes  of  Subterranean  Ice,  November,  1896, 
and  March,  1897. 

31  Whymper :  Scrambles  amongst  the  Alps,  1871,  page  426. 


I3O         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

from  a  column  or  icicle,  the  fracture  will  show  regular 
prisms.  This  phenomenon  is  not  as  yet  satisfactorily 
accounted  for;  the  only  thing  certain  about  it  is,  that  it 
does  not  occur  in  ice  of  recent  formation.  From  my 
own  observations,  I  should  say  that  ice  became  prismatic 
at  the  end  of  summer;  at  least  I  have  always  found  it 
in  August  or  September  rather  than  in  June  or  July.32 

Besides  building  up  ice  heaps,  the  drip,  also,  has  the 
function  of  destroying  its  own  creations.  If  there  are 
no  crevasses,  there  are  holes  and  runnels.  These  are 
generally  found  at  or  leading  to  the  lowest  point  of  the 
ice  floor.  Occasionally  the  holes  are  deep,  sometimes 
many  meters  in  depth.  They  are  certainly  cut  out  by 
the  melting  water,  to  which  they  offer  an  exit;  in  fact 
they  are  a  part  of  the  drainage  system  present  in  all  gla- 
ciere  caves,  where  there  must  be  some  outlet  for  sur- 
plus water  at  or  near  the  lowest  point :  and  as  the 
caves  are  always  in  porous  or  broken  rock,  the  drain- 
age takes  place  through  the  cracks  and  fissures. 

The  drip  produces  also  the  exact  opposite  of  pyra- 
mids in  the  shape  of  ice  basins.  These  are  cut  in  the 
floor  by  an  extra  strong  drip  from  the  roof  at  those 
spots.  Basins  exactly  like  these  are  not  seen  on  glaciers. 
Not  infrequently  they  are  full  of  water  of  considerable 
depth. 

Lakes  and  pools  are  found  in  glaciere  caves.  Some- 
times they  are  on  the  ice  floor,  and  in  this  case  they 
are  due  either  to  rain-water  collecting  faster  than  it  can 

32  See  Part  IV.  :  Browne,  page  289  ;  Lohmann,  page  303. 


THE   CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  131 

flow  off,  or  else  because  the  cave  is  in  a  state  of  thaw. 
Sometimes  these  pools  are  among1  the  rocks  in  one  part 
of  a  cave,  while  the  ice  is  in  another  part. 

I  have  said  above  that  motion  in  subterranean  ice  is 
practically  wanting.  This  is  proved  by  the  lack  of  cre- 
vasses on  the  ice  slopes  or  ice  walls,  and  also  by  the 
fact  that  basins  and  cones  appear  year  after  year  in  the 
same  spots,  where  they  remain  whether  they  are  increas- 
ing or  diminishing.  But  this  statement  cannot  be  held 
to  cover  the  entrance  snow  and  ice  slopes  of  some  of 
the  open  pit  caves  such  as  the  Gottscheer  cave,  or  Saint- 
Li  vres  or  Haut  d'  Aviernoz.  Here  the  snow,  which  falls 
on  the  entrance  slope,  must  gradually  gravitate  to  the 
bottom.  The  question  is  whether  it  only  descends  in  the 
shape  of  water  after  melting  or  as  snow  before  solidifying ; 
or  whether  it  ever  slides  down  at  all  after  becoming  some- 
what solidified.  Probably,  however,  the  ice  of  these  slopes, 
judging  from  the  fact  that  crevasses  are  entirely  lacking, 
remains  stationary. 

Color  Effects. — The  color  effect  of  every  glaciere 
cavern  has  a  certain  individuality,  according  to  the  color 
of  the  rocks,  the  quantity  of  ice,  and  the  amount  of 
daylight  admitted  through  the  entrance.  In  my  opinion, 
the  white  note  given  by  the  ice,  makes  a  fine  glaciere 
cave  the  most  beautiful  of  all  subterranean  hollows. 
In  this  respect  it  seems  to  me  that  they  are  similar  to 
high  Alps,  which  are  certainly  most  impressive  with  cov- 
erings of  snow  and  glacier. 


132         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

There  are,  however,  two  distinct  notes  in  the  color 
effects  of  glaciere  caves  and  these  may  be  described  as 
the  partly  subterranean,  or  as  the  wholly  subterranean. 
In  the  former  case  the  local  tints  stand  out  more  clearly. 
For  instance,  at  the  Kolowratshohle  the  ice  is  beautifully 
transparent  and  of  a  pale  ochre-greenish  hue  :  the  lime- 
stone rocks  are  streaked  with  iron,  and  thus  have  a  red- 
dish hue,  while,  owing  to  the  entrance  admitting  plenty 
of  daylight,  the  effect  is  only  semi-subterranean.  Again, 
at  Chaux-les-Passavant  plenty  of  daylight  is  admitted  : 
the  rocks  are  a  yellowish  brown,  and  the  ice  is  white 
and  blue.  At  the  Schafloch  or  the  Frauenmauer,  on 
the  contrary,  the  effect  is  wholly  subterranean :  daylight 
is  so  completely  absent  that  black  is  the  predominating 
note,  the  ice  itself  looking  gray.  Dobsina  is  an  excep- 
tion, as,  thanks  to  the  electric  light,  white  is  the  con- 
spicuous tone,  even  though  rocks  and  shadows  dull  many 
places  and  corners  into  a  sombre  gray. 

More  than  once,  on  returning  to  daylight  from  the  in- 
tense blackness  of  a  cave,  I  have  seen  the  rocks  near  the 
entrance  appear  a  dark  blue  color,  exactly  simulating 
moonlight.  This  effect  is  common  to  both  glaciere  caves 
and  ordinary  caverns.  It  is  a  striking  but  rare  phe- 
nomenon, and  depends  apparently  on  the  shape  of  the 
cave.  This  moonlight  effect  only  seems  to  occur  when 
a  cave  makes  an  elbow  directly  after  the  mouth  and 
then  goes  straight  for  some  distance.  When  the  day- 
light is  actually  in  sight,  the  moonlight  impression  van- 
ishes. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         133 

Carbonic  Acid  Gas. — Carbonic  acid  gas,  judging  from 
the  most  recent  explorations,  is  more  of  a  rarity  in  rock 
caves  with  normal  temperatures  than  is  generally  supposed. 
There  appears  to  be  only  one  case  on  record  where  this 
gas  was  observed  in  a  cold  cave.  This  was  in  the 
Creux-de-Souci,33  which  is  rather  a  cold  than  a  freezing 
cavern,  but  which  on  one  occasion  was  found  to  contain 
snow,  and  whose  temperature  is  always  extremely  low. 
From  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  therefore,  it  may 
be  assumed  that  if  carbonic  acid  gas  does  form  in  gla- 
ciere  caves,  it  does  so  only  seldom. 

Fauna. — No  attention  whatever  has  been  paid,  prac- 
tically as  yet,  as  to  whether  any  distinctive  animal  life 
exists  in  glacieres.  So  far,  I  have  seen  none  myself. 
The  Rev.  G.  F.  Browne,  in  four  instances,  found  a  large 
red-brown  fly  nearly  an  inch  long,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  Stenophylax  Hieroglyphicus  of  Stephens ;  and  at  Cha- 
puis,  he  obtained  an  ichneumon  of  the  genus  Paniscus. 
At  Font  d'Urle,  Monsieur  Villard  captured  a  blind  spe- 
cimen of  a  coleoptera,  Cytodromus  dapsaides.  A  variety 
of  rotifer,  Notholca  longispina,  is  now  living  in  the  Creux- 
de-Souci.  In  Skerisora,  remains  of  bats  have  been 
found,  not  very  different  from  those  now  living  in  the 
neighborhood.34  It  is,  in  any  case,  certainly  remarkable 

33  See  Part  III. :  page  207. 

34  See  Part  I.  :  Ausable  Pond,  page  81,  and  Part  III. :  Creux-de- 
Souci,   page  207  ;   Font  d'Urle,  page  213  ;    Chapuis,  page  216  ;   La 
Genolliere,  page  219  ;  Skerisora,  page  245. 


134          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

that  the  same  kind  of  fly  should  have  been  discovered 
in  several  glacieres  in  different  localities ;  and  it  may 
some  day  be  shown  that  there  is  a  special  insect  fauna. 
Certainly  the  subject  is  worth  investigating.85 

Flora. — The  flora  of  glacieres  has  been  as  little  ob- 
served as  the  fauna.  There  are  scarcely  any  references  to 
such  a  thing  as  glaciere  plant  life  in  literature.  Whether 
there  is  a  special  flora  in  any  glaciere  cave  is  still  an 
open  question.  In  the  cases  of  several  boulder  taluses, 
there  is  no  doubt  that,  even  if  there  is  not  a  special 
flora,  at  least  that  the  plants  near  the  ice  beds  are 
greatly  retarded  every  year  in  their  development.  Prob- 
ably the  flora  among  the  boulders  blooms  a  month  or  six 
weeks  later  than  the  flora  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  In 
the  cases  of  the  Cave  of  Paradana  and  of  the  Kuntschner 
Eishohle  it  is  reported  that  the  plant  life  becomes  more 
and  more  arctic  in  character  towards  the  bottom  of  the 
pit.36 

Paleontology. — No  paleontological  remains  have  as  yet 
been  reported  from  glaciere  caves.  No  bones  of  animals 
have  been  found,  except  those  of  bats  in  Skerisora37 

35  In  June,  1899,  I  mentioned  these  facts  to  Monsieur  Armand  Vir6, 
director  of  the  Biologic  Laboratory  in  the  catacombs  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes  in  Paris.     He  was  much  interested,  and  promised  to  make  a 
careful  investigation  of  the  matter. 

36  See  Part  I.  :  Ausable  Pond,  page  80  ;  Giant  of  the  Valley,  page 
83,  note  7  ;  Ice  Gulch,  page  85  ;   Spruce  Creek,  page  91.    See  Part 
III  :  Spruce  Creek,  page  188  ;  Paradana,  page  237  ;    Kuntschner  Eis- 
hohle, page  241. 

37  See  Part  III.  :  Skerisora,  page  245. 


THE    CAUSES    OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  135 

and  a  few  of  the  common  genus  bos.™  No  relics  of  the 
handiwork  of  man  have  been  discovered  ;  nor,  indeed, 
with  the  exception  of  the  skeletons  found  in  the  cave 
of  Yeermallik  in  Kondooz,39  anything  which  reveals  the 
presence  of  man  in  glacieres  or  that  they  were  ever  used 
for  habitation.  The  reason  that  there  are  so  few  remains 
in  glaciere  caves  is  undoubtedly  because  their  temperatures 
are  too  low  for  their  occupation  by  animal  or  man ;  but, 
from  the  evidence  afforded  by  their  non-occupation,  may 
be  drawn  the  valuable  inference  that  the  glaciere  caves 
of  to-day  were  glaciere  caves  long  ago. 

Legends  and  Religion. — There  are  scarcely  any  legends 
connected  with  glacieres.  I  know  only  of  one  about  one 
of  the  caves  of  the  Mont  Parmelan.40  Nor  does  there 
seem  to  be  any  reference  to  glaciere  caves  in  works  of 
fiction.  Dante  makes  his  last  hell  full  of  an  ice  lake,  but 
an  attentive  perusal  fails  to  reveal  a  single  line  which  in 
any  way  describes  or  suggests  a  glaciere.  In  at  least  two 
cases,41  however,  the  ice  in  caves  is  connected  with  re- 
ligion, as  in  Kashmere,  the  Hindoos,  and  in  Arizona,  the 
Zuni  Indians,  either  worship  or  pray  at  glaciere  caves, 
overawed,  from  some  mystical  feeling,  by  the  permanence 
of  the  ice  formations  which  they  connect  with  their  deities. 


88  See  Part  I.  :  Saint- Livres,  page  68. 
39  See  Part  III.  :  Yeermallik,  page  261. 


40  See  Part  III.  :  Glaciere  de  PEnfer,  page  216. 

41  See   Part  III.  :  Amarnath,  page  262  ;   Cave,  White  Mountains, 
Arizona,  page  176. 


136         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

II. 

The  cause  of  the  formation  of  subterranean  ice  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  most  intricate  problems  in  connec- 
tion with  caverns.  Various  theories  have  been  advanced 
why  ice  is  found  in  certain  caves  and  not  in  others.  Some 
writers  have  held  that  it  is  a  remnant  of  a  glacial  period ; 
others  that  it  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  salts  in  the  rocks  ; 
some  have  said  that  it  is  due  to  the  rocks  retarding  waves 
of  heat  and  cold  ;  and  still  others  think  that  it  is  formed  by 
pressure  on  the  percolating  waters.  Many  of  these  the- 
ories were  formulated  in  explanation  of  the  belief  of  peas- 
ants living  near  the  caves,  who  almost  always  say  that 
the  ice  is  formed  in  summer  and  melts  in  winter.  Most 
scientific  observers  on  the  other  hand  claim  that  the 
ice  is  due  to  the  cold  of  winter,  and  a  few  think  that 
it  is  formed  or  helped  by  draughts  and  by  evaporation 
and  expansion  of  the  air.  The  variety  of  opinions  put 
forth,  show  at  any  rate  the  intricacy  of  the  problem. 

All  my  own  observations  have  tended  more  and  more 
to  make  me  believe  that  the  cold  of  winter  is  the  cause 
of  the  ice.  Before  elaborating  my  own  views,  however, 
I  wish  to  take  up  seriatim  the  theories  which  have  been 
formulated,  principally  in  explanation  of  the  belief  that 
the  ice  was  a  summer  product,  and  to  give  my  reasons 
for  my  disbelief  in  them. 

Glacial  Period. — The  first  theory,  perhaps,  to  touch 
on,  is  the  one  that  the  ice  is  a  remnant  of  a  glacial 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         137 

period.  This  seems  to  occur  to  many  persons  as  a  so- 
lution of  the  question  when  they  first  hear  of  glacieres, 
and  it  has  been  several  times  propounded  to  me,  and 
naturally  enough,  always  by  scientific  men.42  Still  I  do 
not  think  it  has  ever  been  held  by  anyone  who  had 
made  a  study  of  glacieres. 

The  theory  is,  indeed,  untenable  in  regard  to  freezing 
caves,  as  it  does  not  accord  with  the  observed  facts  of  the 
yearly  disappearance  of  the  ice  in  many  caves  and  taluses. 
At  Szilize  every  year  the  ice  has  disappeared  pretty  com- 
pletely by  November,  and  the  cave  is  free;  but  in 
April  or  May  the  floor  is  again  covered  with  ice,  and 
columns  and  icicles  have  formed  on  the  roof  and  sides. 
At  La  Genolliere  the  cave  is  used  by  the  people  of  the 
neighboring  chalets,  through  the  spring  and  early  sum- 
mer, to  help  in  the  operation  of  butter  making;  by  the 
middle  or  the  end  of  August  it  has  entirely  disappeared, 
but  is  found  formed  afresh  the  following  spring.  At  the 
Rumney  Talus,  at  the  Cave  of  Decorah,  at  the  Gorge 
of  Ellenville,  and  at  the  Williamstown  Snow  Hole,  I 
found  no  snow  or  ice. 43  Yet  it  is  abundant  in  all  these 
localities  in  the  spring.  Too  many  examples  of  the  com- 
plete melting  away  of  the  ice  every  year  can  be  cited, 
to  permit  any  doubt:  glaciere  caves  are  not  connected 
with  a  glacial  period. 

42  See  Part  IV. :  Hitchcock,  page  284  ;  Bonney,  page  291  ;  Dawkins, 
page  292. 

43  See  Part  I. :   Rumney,  page  85  ;   Decorah,  page  88  ;   Ellenville, 
page  91  ;  Williamstown,  page  98. 


138          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Though  it  may  be  stated  positively  that  the  ice  in 
caves  is  not  a  remnant  of  a  glacial  period,  yet  this  can- 
not be  done  so  authoritatively  about  subsoil  ice  sheets 
and  freezing  wells.  At  Brandon,  Owego  and  Decorah 
the  gravel  was  found  frozen  at  the  time  the  wells  were 
dug,  and  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  determine  for  how 
long  a  time  this  was  the  case  previous  to  the  digging. 
The  proofs,  however,  are  so  strong  that  the  ice  re-forms 
every  winter  at  such  freezing  wells,  that  they  may  be 
considered  as  in  every  respect  following  the  same  gen- 
eral laws  as  glaciere  caves.  That  the  ice  in  these  wells 
is  not  the  remains  of  a  glacial  period,  seems  proved 
moreover  by  the  work  of  the  Boston  Natural  History 
Society,  which  sank  two  wells  at  Brandon  near  to  the 
Freezing  well.  One  of  these  was  only  twenty-one  meters 
distant  and  went  through  the  same  gravel  drift.  Yet  it 
did  not  strike  ice.44  A  somewhat  similar  state  of  things 
appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  Centennial  Lode  and 
other  lodes  on  Mount  McClellan,45  where  the  causes  also 
seem  to  be  local,  as  there  is  no  ice  in  mines  on  neigh- 
boring mountains. 

The  Summer  s  Heat  Theory. — The  natives  and  peasants 
in  the  neighborhood  of  glaciere  caves  generally  believe 
that  the  ice  of  caves  is  formed  in  summer  and  melts  in 
winter.  I  have  met  with  this  belief  everywhere  in  Eu- 

**  See  Part  IV.  :  Hager,  page  282  ;  Hitchcock,  page  284. 
15  See  Part  III.  :  Rifts  of  Ice,  etc.,  page  174. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         139 

rope ;  in  the  Eifel,  Jura,  Swiss  Alps,  Tyrolese  Alps,  and 
Carpathians :  and  also  occasionally  in  the  United  States. 
Peasants  and  guides  tell  you  with  absolute  confidence : 
"The  hotter  the  summer  the  more  ice  there  is."  The 
strange  thing  is  that  any  number  of  writers  * — sometimes 
scientific  men — have  accepted  the  ideas  and  statements 
of  the  peasants  about  the  formation  of  ice  in  summer, 
and  have  tried  to  account  for  it. 

The  belief  of  the  peasants  is  founded  on  the  fact  that 
they  scarcely  ever  go  to  any  cave  except  when  some 
tourist  takes  them  with  him,  and,  therefore,  they  rarely 
see  one  in  winter,  and  their  faith  is  not  based  on  ob- 
servation. It  is,  however,  founded  on  an  appearance  of 
truth:  and  that  is  on  the  fact  that  the  temperatures  of 
glaciere  caves,  like  that  of  other  caves  or  that  of  cellars, 
are  colder  in  summer  than  the  outside  air,  and  warmer  in 
winter  than  the  outside  air.  Possessing  neither  reason- 
ing powers  nor  thermometers,  the  peasants  simply  go  a 
step  further  and  say  that  glaciere  caves  are  cold  in  sum- 
mer and  hot  in  winter. 

Professor  Thury  tells  a  story  to  the  point.  He  vis- 
ited the  Grand  Cave  de  Montarquis  in  midwinter.  All 
the  peasants  told  him  there  would  be  no  use  going,  as 
there  would  be  no  ice  in  the  cave.  He  tried  to  find 
even  one  peasant  who  had  been  to  the  cave  in  winter, 
but  could  not.  He  then  visited  it  himself  and  found  it 

46  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  :  Boisot,  1686  ;  Valvasor,  1689  ; 
Behrens,  1703 ;  Billerez,  1712  ;  Bel,  1739 ;  Rosenmuller  and  Tillesius, 
1799  ;  Sartori,  1809  ;  Pictet,  1822  ;  Scrope,  1826 ;  Murchison,  1845. 


I4O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

full  of  hard  ice.  On  his  return  he  told  the  peasants  of 
his  discovery.  They  were  staggered  at  first,  finally  one 
exclaimed:  "It  makes  no  difference  ;  in  genuine  glacieres 
there  is  no  ice  in  winter." 

It  will  be  difficult,  probably,  to  eradicate  this  belief  and 
the  consequent  theories  among  the  uneducated  people  in 
the  vicinity  of  glaciere  caves,  for  their  imperfect  obser- 
vations will  keep  it  alive.  In  refutation,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  winter's  cold  theory  is  the  direct  opposite  of  the 
summer's  heat  theory,  and  that  all  the  observations  and 
all  the  facts  which  prove  the  one,  disprove  the  other. 

Within  two  or  three  years,  however,  the  formation  of 
small  quantities  of  ice  has  been  observed  during  the 
summer  months  in  one  or  two  caves.  This  has  taken 
place  in  mountain  caves  situated  at  a  high  altitude  at 
times  when  the  air  outside  has  dropped  below  freezing 
point  during  the  night.  There  is,  therefore,  nothing  in- 
consistent in  this  fact  with  the  winter's  cold  theory: 
indeed  it  is  only  a  widening  of  it  in  the  meaning  of  the 
word  winter.47 

Chemical  Causes. — Non-scientific  persons,  on  first  hear- 
ing of  glaciere  caves,  almost  always  suggest  that  to  form 
the  ice  there  must  be  salts  in  the  rocks.  Probably  they 
connect  unconsciously  in  their  minds  "ice  caves"  and 
"ice  cream." 

47  See  Part  III.  :   Beilsteinhohle,  page  235.     Part  IV.  :   Professor 
Cranmer,  page  310. 


THE   CAUSES    OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  14! 

Chemical  causes,  however,  have  never  appealed  to 
scientific  men.48  There  are  only  two  places  I  know  of 
where  salt  is  reported.  One  is  the  Ice  Spring  in  Ore- 
gon, which  is  said  to  be  slightly  saline  in  taste;  the 
other  is  the  Cave  of  Illetzkaya-Zatschita,  where  the  gyp- 
sum hillock,  in  which  the  ice  is  found,  overlies  a  bed 
of  rock  salt.  Repeated  experiments  in  letting  lumps  of 
glaciere  ice  melt  in  my  mouth  have  convinced  me  per- 
sonally that  in  all  cases  the  water  is  exceedingly  pure 
and  sweet,  a  fact  mentioned  in  the  very  first  notice  ex- 
tant about  glacieres,  the  letter  of  Benigne  Poissenot  in 
1586,  who  speaks  of  the  deliciousness  of  the  water  in 
Chaux-les-Passavant.  To  sum  this  matter  up  briefly,  it 
can  be  safely  asserted  that  all  causes,  which  would  fall 
under  the  head  of  "  Chemical  causes,"  must  be  entirely 
eliminated  as  possible  cold  producers. 

Waves  of  Heat  and  Cold. — While  Sir  Roderick  Mur- 
chison  was  studying  the  geology  of  Russia,49  he  visited 
Illetzkaya-Zatschita  and  was  puzzled  to  account  for  the 
ice  formations.  He  thought,  at  first,  that  they  were  due 
to  the  presence  of  salt,  but  recognizing  that  this  was  not 
correct  he  submitted  the  case  to  Sir  John  Herschel,  who, 
rejecting  the  evaporation  or  condensation  of  vapor  as  the 
cause,  argued  that  the  ice  was  due  to  waves  of  heat  and 
cold,  and  that  at  certain  depths  in  the  interior,  the  cold 

48  See  Part  IV. :  Billerez,  page  270  ;  Hacquet,  page  271. 

49  The  Geology  of  Russia  and  the  Ural  Mountains,  vol.  I.,  pages 
184-198. 


142          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

wave  arrived  in  midsummer  and  the  heat  in  midwinter. 
Murchison  declined  to  assent  to  this  doctrine,  asking 
why  one  cave  should  present  this  exceptional  occurrence, 
when  the  numerous  other  rents  and  openings  in  the  same 
hillock  were  free  from  ice.  The  impossibility  of  the  heat 
and  cold  wave  theory  was  so  completely  shown  by  Mur- 
chison's  objection,  that  it  has  never  again  been  brought 
forward. 

Capillary  or  Compressed  Air  Theory. — The  possibil- 
ity of  compressed  air  causing  subterranean  ice  to  form 
seems  to  have  been  first  authoritatively  formulated  by  Mr. 
N.  M.  Lowe,  of  Boston.50  His  theory  in  brief  is  this : — 
Bubbles  of  air  drawn  into  water  flowing  down  through 
fissures  in  rocks  are  liable  to  a  continually  increasing 
pressure.  When  the  air  has  reached  the  bottom  and 
is  liberated  in  the  cave,  it  will  be  from  a  pressure 
equal  to  the  height  of  the  column  of  water,  and  it  will 
have  lost  by  connection  in  the  mass  through  which  the 
conduit  passes,  the  heat  due  to  its  compression ;  and  on 
being  liberated,  it  will  immediately  absorb  from  the  air 
and  the  water  in  the  cave,  the  heat  which  it  has  lost  in 
its  downward  passage. 

Several  scientific  observers  have  rallied  to  this  idea.51 
One  of  the  Hungarian  residents  at  Dobsina,  a  doctor, 
whose  opportunities  for  observations  are  unrivalled,  told 

50  Science  Observer.    Boston,  1879,  vol.  II.,  page  57.    See  Part  IV.  : 
Silliman,  page  279  ;  Olmstead,  page  282. 

51  See  B.  Schwalbe,  Ueber  Eishohlen  und  Eislocher,  page  56. 


THE    CAUSES    OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  143 

me — if  I  understood  him  correctly — that  he  believed  in 
the  capillary  theory. 

There  are  many  facts,  however,  which  militate  against 
the  compressed  air  theory  as  applied  to  caves.  Almost 
all  caves  receive  some  drip  through  fissures,  and  yet 
there  are  many  thousands  of  caves  which  never  contain 
ice,  and  whose  temperature  scarcely  varies  the  year  round. 
Especially  against  the  theory  is  the  fact  that  glaciere  caves 
are  never  known  in  hot  countries.  If  the  theory  were 
correct  we  should,  for  instance,  sometimes  find  ice  in  such 
caves  as  those  of  Yucatan  described  by  Mr.  Mercer.52 

There  are  also  some  mechanical  difficulties  in  the 
way.  Mr.  John  Ritchie 53  touches  them  when  he  says : 
"If  the  passage  through  which  the  water  flows  down  is 
at  all  tubular  the  column  will  be  subjected  to  the  usual 
hydrostatic  pressure."  The  word  tubular  is  the  hard 
one  to  answer.  Limestone  rock  fissures  are  certainly 
not  tubular.  They  have  all  sorts  of  shapes  and  angles 
and  corners,  every  one  of  which  would  interfere  with 
anything  like  a  regular  pressure. 

This  latter  objection  would  not  apply  to  borings  in 
mines.  I  have  been  assured  that  in  some  borings  in 
Western  mines  ice  has  been  formed  by  pressure,  and 
there  may  be  truth  in  this,  although  I  doubt  it,  as  I  have 
yet  to  hear  of  ice  in  any  mines  in  warm  latitudes.  Mr. 
John  Ritchie54  has  suggested,  also,  that  if  compressed  air 

M  The  Hill  Caves  of  Yucatan. 

M  Boston  Transcript,  January  26.,  1 897. 

M  The  Happy  Thought.      Boston,  January  23d,  1897. 


144          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

does  not  perhaps  act  strongly  enough  to  form  ice,  yet  it 
may  help  in  keeping  the  temperature  low  and  aid  in  the 
formation  of  draughts  in  caves  and  boulder  heaps.  At 
present,  however,  I  can  see  no  reason  to  think  that  the 
ice  in  caves  is  due  to  compressed  air.55 

III. 

I  have  already  said  that  I  believe  that  the  cold  of 
winter  is  the  cause  of  the  ice  in  caves.  To  make 
this  clearer,  I  may  say  that  I  look  on  glacieres  as  the 
last  outcrop,  the  outside  edge,  so  to  speak,  of  the  area 
of  low  temperatures,  which  has  its  culminating  point  in 
the  Northern  Hemisphere  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  Greenland 
and  Siberia,  and  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere  in  the  Ant- 
arctic; and  which  is  manifested  to  us  in  the  snows  of 
mountain  peaks,  and  immediately  round  us  in  frozen  ponds 
and  rivers  and  snowy  blizzards ;  and  which,  as  it  disap- 
pears each  summer,  leaves  its  last  traces  in  our  latitudes 
in  sequestered  gorges  and  convenient  caverns.  In  every 
case,  it  seems  to  me,  glacieres  are  simply  refrigerators, 
which  preserve  the  ice  and  snow  accumulated  in  them 
during  the  winter.  They  all  follow  the  same  general  laws 
as  to  the  origin  of  their  contents,  modified  only  in  slight 
degree  according  to  the  varying  natural  local  conditions, 
such  as  the  water  supply,  or  the  protection  from 
sun  and  wind,  or  the  thickness  of  the  overhead  rock,  or 
the  altitude  or  latitude.  I  cannot  see  that  there  is  any- 

55  See  Part  I. :  page  89. 


THE   CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN   ICE.  145 

thing  remarkable  about  the  fact  that  the  cold  of  winter 
is  able  to  penetrate  and  make  itself  felt  sometimes  for 
a  slight  depth  in  the  earth's  crust;  a  depth,  so  far  as 
yet  known,  never  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty  meters. 
It  seems  to  me  that  glacieres  only  emphasize  a  law 
of  nature,  which  has  doubtless  been  formulated  many 
times  in  connection  with  springs  and  phreatic  waters, 
and  that  is,  that  where  we  find  cold  waters  underground, 
we  may  be  sure  that  they  have  penetrated  from  the 
outside. 

If  we  look  first  at  the  mode  of  formation  of  over- 
ground perennial  ice,  that  is,  of  the  ice  of  glaciers  and  of 
rock  gorges ;  and  then  at  the  evidences  of  the  mode 
of  formation  of  underground  perennial  ice,  in  boulder 
heaps,  wells  and  caves ;  we  will  soon  see  that  the  transi- 
tions between  them  are  gentle  in  character  and  that 
there  is  nothing  unnatural  about  the  formation  of  the 
ice  in  glacieres. 

Glaciers. — Everyone  now  knows  the  main  character- 
istics of  glaciers.  They  are  formed  in  parts  of  the 
earth  where  the  land  or  the  mountains  reach  to  the 
region  of  perpetual  snow.  The  snows  fall  from  the 
sky,  and  accumulate  into  a  snow  cap,  which  by  its  own 
weight  and  by  melting  and  regelation,  gradually  changes 
to  ice.  This,  by  the  laws  of  gravitation,  descends  to 
lower  levels,  and  in  mountain  valleys  extends  sometimes 
far  below  the  snow  line  into  the  region  of  cultivated 
fields.  These  valley  prolongations  of  the  perpetual  snow 


146          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

caps  are  the  glaciers.  The  important  point  to  notice 
here,  is  that  the  formation  of  glaciers  is  originally  en- 
tirely due  to  the  precipitation  of  moisture  by  cold  in  the 
upper  portions ;  while  the  destruction  of  glaciers  is  due 
to  the  action  of  heat  melting  the  ice  in  the  lower  por- 
tions, where  they  disappear  in  the  shape  of  streams  of 
running  water.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  the 
greatest  glaciers  are  found  in  the  Arctic  and  Antarctic 
regions  and  in  the  highest  mountain  ranges ;  and  that 
in  the  tropics  glaciers  are  either  wanting  or  exceed- 
ingly small. 

Gorges  and  Troughs. — Gorges  and  gullies,  where  ice 
remains  over,  are  a  transitional  form  between  glaciers  and 
glacieres.  In  many  mountain  ravines  or  canyons,  the 
enduring  snow  consists  principally  of  the  avalanches 
which  have  fallen  from  the  heights  above  during  the 
winter  and  solidified  in  the  bottom  of  the  ravines. 
Freezing  gorges  proper,  however,  are  not  dependent 
on  avalanches  for  their  supply,  but  they  receive  the 
accretions  to  their  ice  directly  from  the  winter  snows. 
These  fall  into  the  gorge  itself  and  by  melting  and  regela- 
tion  gradually  solidify  into  a  mass  of  ice  which,  when 
well  sheltered  against  sun  and  wind,  remains  over  some- 
times till  the  following  winter.  By  their  mode  of  forma- 
tion, therefore,  it  is  evident  that  the  ice  in  these  gorges 
has  some  of  the  characteristics  of  glaciers ;  that  it  is  due 
to  the  same  prime  causes  as  the  ice  of  glaciers  or  the  ice 
on  ponds  and  rivers,  namely  the  cold  of  winter ;  and  in 


THE    CAUSES   OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  147 

fact,  it  is  not  far  wrong  to  consider  these  gorges  as 
miniature  glaciers. 

Freezing  gorges,  however,  show,  also,  certain  degrees 
of  kinship  to  freezing  caverns  and  taluses,  principally  in 
the  protection  afforded  to  the  ice  against  external  de- 
structive influences.  The  ice  is  almost  always  found  in 
positions  where  it  receives  little,  if  any,  of  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun  and,  also,  where  it  is  scarcely,  if  at  all, 
exposed  to  any  winds.  The  sides  of  the  fissures  and 
surrounding  trees  generally  afford  the  necessary  pro- 
tection. Some  of  the  forms  which  the  ice  assumes  in 
gorges,  such  as  long  pendent  icicles,  are  also  more  char- 
acteristic of  underground  than  of  overground  ice. 

The  freezing  troughs  or  basins  found  in  Siberia  are 
evidently  closely  related  to  gorges,  and  the  fact  that  the 
ice  is  found  in  less  sheltered  places  may  be  explained 
by  the  high  northerly  latitudes  of  these  troughs,  in  gen- 
eral between  fifty-seven  and  sixty  degrees. 

The  Winter's  Cold  Theory. — The  places  where  ice  is 
found  underground  differ  in  one  important  respect  from 
gullies  and  troughs,  and  that  is,  in  the  fact  that  above 
the  ice  there  is  rock  or  soil,  which,  in  true  caves,  takes 
the  form  of  a  roof.  This  causes  some  important  dis- 
tinctions between  overground  and  underground  perennial 
ice.  It  means  that  the  ice  is  formed  directly  in  the  caves, 
and  that  it  is  genuine  subterranean  ice,  and  not,  except 
perhaps  near  the  entrance,  solidified  snow.  The  roof, 
while  not  admitting  the  winter  snows,  is,  however,  a  pro- 


148          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

tection  against  warm  summer  rains,  and,  of  course,  entirely 
cuts  off  radiation  from  the  sky.  If,  therefore,  it  keeps 
out  some  cold,  it  also  acts  as  a  protector  against  heat. 

That  the  cold  of  winter  is  the  source  of  the  cold  which 
produces  the  ice  which  forms  underground,  and  that  it 
is  through  its  influence,  with  the  assistance  of  certain 
secondary  causes,  that  some  caves  are  converted  into 
what  are  practically  natural  ice  houses,  seems  to  me  the 
true  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  of  subterranean  ice, 
not  only  since  it  is  the  simple  and  obvious  explanation, 
but  also  because  all  the  facts,  so  far  as  I  have  myself 
observed,  are  in  accord  with  this  theory.56 

To  form  subterranean  ice,  just  as  to  form  any  other  ice, 
two  things  are  necessary :  the  first  is  cold,  the  second  is 
water.  Cold  is  supplied  by  the  cold  air  of  winter,  and 
water  must  in  some  manner  find  its  way  into  the  cave 
while  the  cold  air  is  there. 

The  process  is  as  follows  :  The  cold  air  of  winter 
sinks  into  and  permeates  the  cave,  and  in  course  of  time 

56  Among  those  who  have  written  or  said  that  the  cold  of  winter 
plays  a  more  or  less  important  part  in  the  formation  of  subterranean 
ice  may  be  mentioned  :  Poissenot,  1586  ;  Gollut,  1592  ;  DeBoz,  1726  ; 
Nagel,  1747;  Cossigny,  1750;  Jars,  1774;  Hacquet,  1778;  Girod- 
Chantrans,  1783 ;  Hablizl,  1788 ;  Prevost,  1789 ;  Townson,  1797 ; 
Humboldt,  1814  ;  Dearborn,  1822  ;  Deluc,  1822  ;  Dewey,  1822  ;  Lee, 
1824  ;  Reich,  1834  ;  Hayden,  1843  ;  Guyot,  1856 ;  Rogers,  1856  ; 
Petruzzi,  1857  ;  Smyth,  1858  ;  Hager,  1861  ;  Thury,  1861  ;  Browne, 
1865  ;  Raymond,  1869  ;  Krenner,  1874  ;  Ritchie,  1879 ;  Benedict, 
1 88 1  ;  Schwalbe,  1881  ;  Fugger,  1883 ;  Trouillet,  1885  ;  Girardot, 
1886  ;  Russell,  1890  ;  Mattel,  1892  ;  Krauss,  1894  ;  Lohmann,  1895  ; 
Balch,  1896  ;  Cvijic,  1896 ;  Butler,  1898 ;  Kovarik,  1898  ;  Cranmer, 
1899. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         149 

freezes  up  all  the  water  which,  in  the  shape  of  melting 
snow  or  cold  winter  rain  or  spring  water,  finds  its  way 
in ;  and  once  ice  is  formed  it  remains  long  after  ice  in 
the  surrounding  open  country  has  melted  away,  because 
heat  penetrates  with  difficulty  into  the  cave.  The  only 
effect  of  the  heat  of  summer  is  to  melt  the  ice. 

The  proofs,  to  my  mind,  of  the  truth  of  this  view  are : 
i — Glacieres  are  always  found  in  parts  of  the  world 
where,  during  part  of  the  year  at  least,  the  temperatures 
of  the  surrounding  country  fall  below  freezing  point.  2 — 
All  observations  by  reliable  observers  show  that  the 
temperatures  of  glaciere  caves  vary,  but  in  a  much  nar- 
rower thermometric  scale,  with  those  of  the  outside  air : 
that  the  temperatures  are  lowest,  and  as  a  rule  below 
freezing  point,  during  the  winter  months ;  and  that  the 
temperatures  are  highest,  and  as  a  rule  above  freezing 
point,  during  the  summer  months.  3 — Ice  is  never  found 
far  from  the  mouth  of  caves,  but  always  near  enough 
for  the  cold  air  to  get  in.  4 — Evaporation,  according  to 
my  observations,  is,  as  in  all  other  forms  of  ice  in  nature, 
connected  mainly  with  the  melting,  not  the  freezing  of 
the  ice. 

Geographical  Distribution  and  Altitudes. — Glaciere 
caves  proper  are  found  in  various  parts  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  America,  mostly  in  the  smaller  mountain 
ranges  or  in  the  outliers  of  the  snowy  mountain 
chains ;  generally  in  limestone  and  occasionally  in  ba- 
saltic formations.  There  are  a  good  many  in  the  Jura ;  a 


I5O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

few  in  the  Swiss  and  the  Italian  Alps;  a  number  in  the 
Eastern  Alps  of  Tyrol  and  Carinthia.  There  are  some 
in  Hungary,  several  in  Russia,  one  in  Iceland,  one  on  the 
Peak  of  Teneriffe,  a  number  in  Siberia,  one  in  Kondooz 
in  Central  Asia,  one  in  the  Himalaya,  one  in  Japan,  and 
one  in  Korea.  I  have  heard  so  far  of  over  fifty  glacieres 
in  North  America,  several  of  which  are  in  Pennsylvania. 
From  all  over  the  world  there  are  some  three  hundred 
places  reported  where  subterranean  ice  is  said  to  occur. 
This  includes  gorges,  boulder  heaps  and  freezing  mines 
and  wells,  all  of  which  exist  in  much  the  same  locali- 
ties as  glaciere  caves. 

All  the  glacieres  which  I  know  of,  are  situated  in  a 
latitude  or  at  an  altitude  where  ice  and  snow  forms  for 
part  of  the  year  in  the  surrounding  open  country.  None 
are  reported  from  India  or  Africa,  or  in  fact  from  any 
low-lying  places  in  tropical  latitudes.  Most  of  them  are 
found  in  middle  latitudes,  and  only  where  during  part 
of  the  year,  at  least,  there  is  a  cold  season,  that  is,  where 
for  some  time  the  thermometer  stands  below  freezing 
point. 

Glacieres  are,  in  general,  at  fairly  high  altitudes.  The 
Schafloch  is  at  1780  meters;  Skerisora  in  Transylvania 
at  1127  meters;  Dobsina  at  noo  meters;  the  Glaciere 
de  Saint-Georges  at  1208  meters.  It  is  true  that  there 
is  one  freezing  cavern  in  the  sub-tropical  latitude  of  Ten- 
eriffe, La  Cueva  de  la  Nieve ;  but  it  is  at  an  altitude  of 
3300  meters,  and  where  snow  falls  every  year  in  the 
open  on  the  Peak.  Unless  some  freezing  cave  is  here- 


THE    CAUSES    OF   SUBTERRANEAN    ICE.  15! 

after  discovered  in  a  region  where  there  is  no  ice  in  the 
open  in  winter,  I  do  not  see  how  the  imperative  necessity 
of  the  cold  air  of  winter  for  forming  the  supply  of  ice 
can  be  controverted. 

Thermometric  Observations. — That  the  cold  air  of  win- 
ter is  the  important  factor  in  the  production  of  cold  is 
proved,  also,  by  the  thermometric  observations  recorded 
in  various  caves  by  different  observers.  They  all  tell 
the  same  tale:  that  the  temperatures  vary  with  those  of 
the  outside  air,  that  they  are  lowest  in  winter  and  high- 
est in  summer.  I  quote  in  the  "  List  of  Glacieres  " 57  a 
few  of  those  published  ;  but  there  are  many  more,  and 
they  all  show  the  same  general  characteristics. 

A  comparison  of  all  the  figures  recorded  proves  that, 
as  a  rule — inside  of  glaciere  caves — from  about  the  first 
of  November  to  the  first  of  July,  there  are  winter  tem- 
peratures, that  is  temperatures  below  freezing  point ;  and 
from  about  the  first  of  July  to  the  first  of  November, 
there  are  summer  temperatures,  that  is  temperatures 
above  freezing  point. 

The  observations  prove  also  that  the  inner  temper- 
atures vary  less  than  the  outer,  that  is  that  they  range 
within  narrower  limits.  They  also  show  that  the  inner 
air  is  but  slowly  affected  by  the  outer  air  when  the 

"See  Part  III.  :  Decorah,  page  178;  Chaux-les-Passavant,  pages 
203-5  ;  La  Poujade,  page  208  ;  Montarquis,  page  218  ;  Saint- Georges, 
page  219  ;  Schafloch,  page  223  ;  Kolowratshohle,  page  227  ;  Schellen- 
berger  Eisgrotte,  page  228  ;  Frain,  page  252  ;  D6bsina,  page  253  ;  etc. 


152         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

latter  is  above  freezing  point,  the  inner  temperature 
rising  then  only  gradually.  Per  contra,  when  the  outside 
temperature  drops  quickly  much  below  freezing  point, 
the  inside  temperature  generally  drops  correspondingly 
at  once,  proving  that  the  cold  air  has  sunk  by  its  weight 
into  the  cave.  The  observations  also  prove  that  the  old 
idea  that  the  temperature  of  caves  is  the  same  through- 
out, can  no  longer  be  considered  correct.  The  observa- 
tions also  appear  to  show,  that  the  temperature  of  a 
cave  does  not  necessarily  represent  the  mean  annual 
temperature  of  a  surrounding  district.  Observation  is 
still  entirely  lacking  on  the  mean  annual  temperature 
of  glacieres,  so  that  one  cannot  speak  definitely  about 
the  matter ;  but  it  seems  likely  that  the  mean  annual 
temperature  of  a  glaciere  cave  is  lower  than  the  isotherm 
of  its  locality;  and  it  seems  more  than  probable  that  on 
the  same  isotherm  different  glaciere  caves  may  have 
different  mean  annual  temperatures,  varying  with  the 
elements  of  size,  quantity  of  ice,  position  of  body  of 
cave  and  of  entrance,  water  supply  and  other  factors. 

Ice  near  the  Entrance  of  Caves  and  the  Surface  of  the 
Soil. — An  important  proof  that  it  is  the  cold  air  of  winter 
which  forms  the  ice  is  the  fact  that  the  latter  is  always 
found  near  the  entrance  of  caves  or  near  the  surface 
of  the  soil.  It  never  extends  far  within.  To  the  best 
of  my  knowledge,  ice  has  never  been  found  two  hun- 
dred meters  from  the  entrance  nor  at  any  depth  be- 
yond one  hundred  and  fifty  meters.  In  all  caves  of 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         153 

great  extent,  the  temperature  far  in  is  about  the  same 
as  that  of  the  surrounding  rock,  and  in  all  deep  borings 
the  temperature  increases  with  the  depth  and  at  great 
depths  the  temperature  becomes  high.  This  nearness  of 
subterranean  ice  to  the  outside  air  is  one  of  the  best 
proofs,  that,  paradoxical  as  the  whole  phenomenon  ap- 
pears at  first,  yet  in  reality  it  is  an  extremely  simple 
matter. 

The  position  of  the  entrance  of  a  cave  in  relation 
to  the  body  of  the  cave  is  an  important  factor  in  per- 
mitting the  cold  air  to  permeate  and  remain  in  the 
cave.  In  all  the  caves  or  gullies  I  have  examined  my- 
self, the  main  mass  of  ice  is  well  below  the  level  of 
the  entrance,  and  even  if  the  latter  is  sheltered  against 
the  wind,  it  is  not  sheltered  against  the  cold  air  of 
winter.  This  is  heavy,  and  by  its  own  weight  sinks 
well  down  to  the  bottom,  freezing  up  in  course  of 
time  all  the  moisture  that  may  drip  from  the  roof,  or 
that  may  come  into  the  cave  in  the  shape  of  melted 
snow  or  cold  winter  rain.  The  summer  air,  which  is 
warm  and,  therefore,  light,  can  only  enter  the  cave 
with  great  difficulty ;  and,  as  a  rule,  before  it  dislodges 
the  winter  air  and  destroys  the  ice,  another  winter's 
freeze  reverses  once  more  the  conditions.  These  prin- 
ciples seem  to  hold  of  every  known  glaciere.  It  is  true, 
that  at  the  Frauenmauer,  the  floor  of  the  cavern  rises 
somewhat  from  the  entrance;  but  the  highest  point  of 
the  floor  is  still  below  the  level  of  the  top  of  the  en- 
trance, so  that  the  cold  air  can  flow  over  the  highest 


154         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

point  without  difficulty.  The  same  appears  to  be  the 
case  at  the  Posselthohle ;  while  at  Amarnath  in  Kash- 
mere,  where  the  floor  is  said  to  rise  to  the  back  wall, 
the  entrance  is  about  as  large  as  the  area  of  the  floor, 
so  that  the  ice  must  also  be  below  the  level  of  the  top 
of  the  entrance. 

The  position  or  situation  of  the  entrance  is  impor- 
tant. In  almost  all  cases  it  has  a  northerly  exposure, 
and  is  sheltered  against  entering  winds.  If  these  two 
conditions  do  not  exist  the  ice  supply  surely  suffers. 
Sometimes  the  entrance  is  more  or  less  tortuous.  In 
some  cases  it  is  protected  by  a  fringe  of  trees.  Still, 
there  is  no  absolute  rule  about  entrances.  The  Fried- 
richsteinerhohle  faces  about  due  south,  and  at  midday 
in  summer,  the  sun  shines  all  the  way  down  to  the 
ice  floor,  causing  mists  to  form.  In  the  Kolowratshohle, 
the  entrance  is  badly  sheltered  against  the  wind  and 
this  undoubtedly  affects  the  supply  in  summer  and  causes 
more  rapid  melting  there  than  in  some  other  cases.58 

Freezing  boulder  taluses  invariably  have  the  ice  near 
the  surface,  and  probably  it  is  never  a  dozen  meters 
distant  from  the  open  air.  These  taluses  are  one  of 
the  strongest  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence  proving  the 
winter's  cold  theory.  The  snow  and  ice  on  the  surface 
of  the  taluses  and  on  the  surface  of  the  boulders  in 
gullies  melts  away,  while  it  still  lingers  underneath  the 
boulders.  It  seems  self-evident  that  the  melting  snow 
water  has  run  to  the  lowest  level  and  there  congealed, 

58  See  Part  III.  :    Decorah,  page  178. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         155 

and  then  remained  because  it  was  better  sheltered  than 
the  ice  outside. 

The  subsoil  ice  of  the  tundras  of  Siberia  and  Alaska 
is  almost  identical  with  the  ice  of  boulder  formations, 
except  that  it  extends  under  larger  areas.  It  is  the  prod- 
uct of  a  climate  where  there  is  a  long,  rigorous  win- 
ter and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  ice  is  found  at 
greater  depths  than  in  more  southerly  latitudes.59  The 
depth  to  which  the  ice  extends  is,  of  course,  determined 
by  the  depth  to  which  the  winter's  cold  can  penetrate 
the  soil.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  causes  of  this  ice 
are  local,  that  is,  that  it  is  due  to  the  long  prevailing 
low  temperatures. 

The  freezing  wells  of  which  the  most  conspicuous  ex- 
amples are  at  Brandon,  Owego,  Decorah,  and  in  Montana, 
seem  also  due  to  local  causes  and  the  ice  is  never  far 
from  the  surface,  that  is,  not  over  twenty  meters;  and 
apparently  also  it  forms  above  the  water  horizons  which 
supply  the  wells. 

The  ice  sheet  on  Mount  Etna60  does  not  seem  to 
be  at  any  great  depth.  It  apparently  had  a  different 
origin  from  most  subterranean  ice  masses,  in  that  the 
snow  probably  fell  first  and  was  then  covered  by  a  flow 
of  lava.  It  is,  therefore,  almost  sui  generis  in  its  mode 
of  formation,  unless  there  are  similar  sheets  on  other 
volcanoes,  which  is  probable  in  a  country  like  Iceland, 

59  See  Part  III. :  Alaska,  page  166  ;    Klondike,  page  167  ;    Kowak 
River,  page  166  ;  Kotzebue  Sound,  page  166. 

60  See  Part  III.,  page  210. 


156         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  which  is  said  to  be  the  case  in  Tierra  del  Fuego.61 
But  the  original  cause  of  the  ice  sheet  on  Etna  was  the 
same  as  all  other  subterranean  ice  masses,  namely  the 
cold  of  winter. 

Evaporation  and  Movements  of  Air. — The  formation 
of  subterranean  ice  is  sometimes  assigned  partly  to  evap- 
oration or  to  expansion  of  the  air.  The  theory  is  an 
old  one,  and  both  scientific  and  non-scientific  men  have 
advanced  it.62 

I  have  already  said  that  I  believe  it  is  the  movements 
of  the  air  which  cause  a  cave  to  be  a  glaciere  cave  or  a 
normal  cave.  When  they  act  in  such  a  way  as  to  permit 
the  cold  air  of  winter  to  permeate  a  cave,  we  find  low 
temperatures  and  ice;  when  they  do  not,  we  find  the 
temperature  about  the  same  as  that  of  the  ground  and 
no  ice. 

That  the  ice  is  not  formed  in  apparently  static  caves, 
by  movements  of  air  producing  evaporation,  seems  to 
me  proved  by  what  I  have  noticed  in  regard  to  the  at- 
mosphere. The  dryness  or  moistness  of  the  air  within 
a  glaciere  cave  is  coincident  with  the  state  of  freezing 
or  thawing  of  the  cave.  When  I  have  visited  a  large  cave 
in  June,  everything  was  frozen  tight,  there  were  no  drips 

61  See  Part  III.,  page  190. 

62  Among  those  who  have  written  that  evaporation  is  a  factor  in  the 
formation  of  subterranean  ice,  may  be  mentioned  :  Pictet,  1822  ;  Scrope, 
1827;    Reich,  1834;    Pleischl,    1841;    Murchison,    1845;    Olmstead, 
1856  ;    Hitchcock,    1861  ;    White,    1870 ;    Kirchhoff,    1876 ;  Krauss, 
1895. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         157 

nor  mushy  ice,  the  air  was  relatively  dry  and  the  sensa- 
tion of  cold  not  unpleasant.  When  I  have  visited  a  cave 
in  August,  the  ice  was  soft  and  mushy,  water  was  dripping 
from  the  roof,  the  atmosphere  was  moist,  and  the  cold 
penetrating.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  facts  go  to  show 
that  it  is  not  evaporation  which  forms  the  ice,  but  the 
melting  of  the  ice  which  fills  the  cave  with  moisture.  If 
there  are  any  draughts  or  movements  of  the  atmos- 
phere when  above  freezing  point,  then  their  tendency  is 
to  vaporize  the  ice. 

The  process  of  the  formation  of  ice  in  relation  to  the 
atmosphere  is  as  follows :  the  cold  air  permeates  the 
cave  and  freezes  up  all  the  drip :  the  atmosphere  be- 
comes dry:  gradually  warmer  air  gets  in  and  the  ice 
begins  to  melt :  then  the  atmosphere  gets  charged  slowly 
with  the  vapor  of  the  melting  ice.  This  process  is  the 
exact  opposite  of  the  formation  of  ice  by  evaporation ; 
it  is  the  atmosphere  which  is  made  humid  by  the  vapor- 
izing of  the  ice,  and  by  the  drip.  When  the  air  is  thor- 
oughly saturated  with  the  vapor,  being  scarcely  renewed 
from  outside  and  but  a  few  degrees  above  freezing  point, 
it  undoubtedly  retards  evaporation,  acts  like  a  blanket 
and  lessens  the  rate  of  melting  of  the  ice.63 

Everything  I  have  personally  observed  in  freezing 
windholes  shows  that  in  them  also  the  cold  of  winter  and 
not  evaporation  is  the  cause  of  the  ice.  They  answer  to 
the  same  tests  as  other  glacieres,  of  geographical  distri- 

83  See  Part  IV.  :    Thury,  page  285  ;   Fugger,  page  296  ;  Trouillet, 
page  298. 


158         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

bution  and  altitude,  nearness  of  ice  to  the  outside,  ther- 
mometnc  observations,  and  dampness  of  the  air  when 
the  ice  melts.  Equally  with  other  glacieres,  the  move- 
ments of  air  in  windholes  do  not  depend  on  the  pres- 
ence of  ice,  but  the  ice  does  depend  on  the  movements 
of  air  and  a  water  supply  at  the  proper  time.  A  proof 
that  it  is  the  cold  of  winter  which  makes  the  ice  in 
windholes,  is  that  the  ice  is  always  found  at  the  lower 
extremity,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  at  that  end  that  the 
cold  air  enters  and  to  that  end  that  the  water  gravi- 
tates. The  reason  that  ice  is  more  rarely  found  in  wind- 
holes  than  in  apparently  static  caves,  is  due  to  the  move- 
ments of  air.  Unlike  the  caves  where  the  heavy  cold 
air  preserves  the  ice  by  remaining  pent  up,  as  soon  as 
the  outside  temperature  rises  the  heavy  cold  air  in  wind- 
holes  tumbles  out  at  the  lower  opening  and  is  replaced 
gradually  by  air  at  a  higher  temperature.  This  also 
flows  out  and  when  it  is  above  freezing  point,  it  natu- 
rally melts  the  ice  and  becomes  humid :  in  fact,  it  vapor- 
izes the  ice  as  it  passes,  and  dissipates  the  moisture 
into  the  outer  air. 

It  is,  however,  certain,  that  in  caves  with  a  tempera- 
ture some  degrees  above  freezing  point,  when  there  is 
either  running  water  or  strong  drips,  evaporation  may 
be,  and  sometimes  undoubtedly  is,  a  factor  in  lowering 
the  temperature  somewhat.64  As  in  some  windholes  there 

"See  Part  IV. :  DeSaussure,  page  274.    See  also  Les  Abimes, 
1894,  page  564- 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         159 

is  occasionally  moisture  on  the  rock  surfaces  where  the 
air  current  passes,  the  evaporation  from  these  surfaces 
doubtless  lowers  the  temperature  of  the  draughts,  and 
it  may  be,  also  those  of  the  rock  surfaces,  a  little. 

Further  observations,  however,  will  be  necessary  in 
regard  to  evaporation  underground,  as  the  data  are  still 
insufficient  to  make  absolutely  positive  statements.65  I 
fail  to  see  any  evidence  to  show  that  evaporation  ever 
lowers  the  temperature  of  draughts  underground  below 
freezing  point,  only  that  it  may  help  to  lower  them  to 
something  less  than  they  would  otherwise  be.  Taking 
all  the  facts  which  I  have  myself  observed,  and  all  I 
have  read  of  in  the  reports  of  others,  my  own  conclusion 
is  that  we  have  no  proof  that  evaporation  underground 
is  ever  strong  enough  to  produce  ice. 

Time  of  Formation  of  Ice. — Everything  I  have  seen 
points  to  the  fact  that  ice  begins  to  lorm  in  a  cave  as 
soon  as  the  temperature  of  the  cave  has  sunk  below 
freezing  point,  whenever,  from  any  cause,  water  gets 
into  the  cave.  The  cold  may  begin  to  penetrate  caves 
as  soon  as  outside  frosts  have  occurred,  that  is  in  the 
fall  months,  about  November;  and  as  soon  as  the  tem- 
perature inside  sinks  below  freezing  point,  ice  will  begin 

65  Several  observers  consider  evaporation  as  more  or  less  of  a  factor 
in  the  production  of  cold  underground.  It  is  suggested  also,  that 
in  certain  cases,  at  high  altitudes,  evaporation  tends  to  prevent  the 
melting  of  the  ice  in  windholes,  but  this  is  not  proved,  as  yet.  See 
Part  IV. :  De  Saussure,  page  274  ;  Fugger,  page  296  ;  Trouillet,  page 
298  ;  Martel,  page  300 ;  Lohmann,  page  302. 


l6O         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

to  form,  provided  also  that  water  gets  into  the  cave, 
from  rains  or  springs  or  any  other  source. 

In  the  mid-winter  months,  although  there  is  then 
plenty  of  cold,  the  water  supply  is  generally  lacking,  as 
the  outside  moisture  is  mostly  frozen  up  and  the  result 
is  that  the  winter  months  are  not  those  when  the  ice  is 
mainly  formed.  Some  is  undoubtedly  formed  in  certain 
caves  whenever  during  the  course  of  the  winter  a  surface 
thaw  outside  furnishes  water  to  the  cave,66  but  in  other 
cases  this  is  not  so  and  the  ice  does  not  appear  before 
the  spring.  In  all  cases  it  is  in  the  spring,  before  the 
cave  has  parted  with  its  store  of  cold,  and  when  both 
the  air  and  the  rock  walls  are  chilled  below  freezing 
point67  that  the  ice  forms  fastest.  Then  plenty  of  water 
is  furnished  by  the  melting  of  the  snows  and  the  un- 
locking of  the  brooks,  and  also  by  early  spring  rains. 
All  this  surface  water  runs  through  the  fissures  into  the 
still  freezing  cave  and  there  becomes  ice.  Not  only  the 
air,  but  also  the  rock  walls  are  chilled  below  freezing 
point,  and  as  the  rocks  part  slowly  with  the  cold  stored 
in  them,  this  cold  helps  to  freeze  the  water  pouring  in. 

The  natural  law  in  relation  to  time  seems  to  be  this : 
Ice  may  be  formed  in  caves  as  soon  as  the  outside  tem- 
perature sinks  below  freezing  point.  In  some  caves  it 

68  See  Part  III. :  Chaux-les-Passavant,  page  203  ;  Saint-Georges, 
page  220. 

67  See  Part  IV. :  Townson,  page  275  ;  Thury,  page  285  ;  Trouillet, 
page  297  ;  Schwalbe,  page  298  ;  Terlanday,  page  301  ;  Kovarik, 
page  307. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  SUBTERRANEAN  ICE.         l6l 

forms  intermittently  all  through  the  cold  months  because 
there  is  a  water  supply.  In  other  caves  it  only  forms 
in  the  spring,  because  there  is  no  water  supply  in  the 
winter  months.  In  all  cases,  however,  the  end  of  winter 
is  the  time  when  most  of  the  ice  is  formed. 


PART  III. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES. 


LIST   OF  GLACIERES. 


68 


NORTH  AMERICA. 

BURIED  OR  FOSSIL  GLACIERS,  NORTH  GREENLAND. 
(W.  E.  Meehan,  Philadelphia  Ledger,  1896.) — On  Rob- 
ertson's Bay  is  the  plateau  of  the  Verhoef  Glacier,  which 
is  about  1 500  meters  long  and  400  meters  wide,  and  stands 
back  only  a  few  meters  from  the  edge  of  the  sea.  This 
plateau,  both  top  and  sides,  is  a  mass  of  flourishing  vege- 
tation, chiefly  grass,  which  reaches  above  a  man's  knee. 
From  among  this  verdure  buttercups,  poppies,  cinquefoils 
and  dandelions  thrust  their  golden  heads  in  wild  profusion. 
Similar  buried  glaciers  are  found  in  many  places  along 
the  fiords  of  North  Greenland. 

Mr.  Meehan  gives  a  simple  explanation  in  connection 
with  the  Verhoef  Glacier.  He  says  that  this  glacier  for- 
merly extended  out  into  the  sea,  and  that  while  it  moved 
forward,  the  clump  moss,  which  struggles  for  existence 
in  Greenland  gorges,  could  do  little  more  than  hold  its 
own.  In  course  of  time,  from  some  unknown  cause,  the 
glacier  receded  to  the  point  where  it  now  discharges,  the 
part  in  the  water  floating  away  in  the  shape  of  icebergs, 
and  the  part  on  the  shore  remaining  stationary.  This  was 
the  opportunity  for  the  clump  mosses.  Caring  nothing  for 
the  cold  they  crept  slowly  over  the  quiet  mass  of  ice 

68  This  list  is  necessarily  incomplete,  and  only  approximately  accurate 
in  many  cases. 

(165) 


1 66  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  made  their  way  first  in  thin  net-like  layers,  later  in 
thick  masses,  till  they  reached  the  rocky  shore.  Year 
after  year  the  mosses  grew,  the  young  plants  trampling 
under-foot  the  older ;  until  the  latter,  rotting,  turned  into 
a  rich  mould.  The  seeds  of  grasses  and  flowers  found 
their  way  to  this,  blown  by  the  wind  or  carried  on  the 
feet  of  birds.  The  plateau  now  is  a  garden  of  green, 
gold  and  white.  How  long  this  will  last  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  as  any  time  nature  may  unloose  its  hold,  and 
the  frozen  river  once  more  pour  down  into  the  bay. 

SUBSOIL  ICE  IN  ALASKA.  (I.  C.  Russell,  A  Journey 
up  the  Yukon  River,  page  149,  and  Second  Expedition 
to  Mount  Saint  EliaS)  page  19.) — Professor  Russell  found 
ice  covered  by  rocks  and  vegetation  in  several  places  in 
Alaska,  especially  along  the  southern  edge  of  the  Malas- 
pina  Glacier  and  on  the  Yukon  River.  He  gives  the 
following  interesting  account  in  1890  of  these  ice  sheets  : 
"  Throughout  the  length  of  the  Yukon,  one  is  frequently 
reminded  of  the  high  latitude  drained  by  the  great  river, 
by  seeing  strata  of  ice  in  the  recently  cut  banks,  beneath 
the  dense  layer  of  moss  and  roots  forming  the  surface  on 
which  the  forests  grow.  One  may  frequently  find  ice  even 
on  a  hot  summer's  day,  by  scraping  away  the  moss  at  his 
feet.  In  some  instances  the  frozen  layer  has  been  pene- 
trated to  the  depth  of  twenty-five  feet,  but  its  full  depth 
has  never  been  ascertained.  In  the  banks  of  some  of  the 
streams  to  the  north  of  the  lower  Yukon,  strata  of  ice  over 
a  hundred  feet  thick  have  been  observed,  and  the  indica- 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  167 

tions  are  that  its  total  depth  is  considerably  greater  than 
the  portion  exposed.  This  subsoil  ice  is  stagnant  and 
without  the  characteristics  of  glaciers." 

SUBSOIL  ICE  IN  THE  KLONDIKE  REGION.  {Philadelphia 
Ledger,  December  3oth,  1897.) — The  Klondike  mining 
country  is  covered  with  snow  most  of  the  year.  The 
ground  is  frozen  for  ten  or  twelve  meters  in  depth,  down 
to  bed  rock.  In  some  places  the  ground,  which  is  pro- 
tected by  a  thick  moss,  is  not  thawed  out  by  the  sun  in 
summer.  The  miner  cuts  off  the  moss  with  a  shovel, 
and  then  builds  a  fire,  which  thaws  out  the  ground  for 
five  or  ten  centimeters.  He  digs  this  out,  rebuilds  a 
fire,  and  then  continues  this  process. 

ICE  CLIFFS  ON  THE  KOWAK  RIVER,  ALASKA.  (Lieu- 
tenant J.  C.  Cantwell,  National  Geographic  Magazine, 
October,  1896.) — On  the  shores  of  the  Kowak  River  are  a 
series  of  ice  cliffs  of  from  about  25  meters  to  45  meters  in 
height.  On  top  of  these  ice  cliffs  is  a  layer  of  black  silt- 
like  soil  some  2  meters  in  thickness,  and  from  this  springs 
a  luxuriant  growth  of  mosses,  grass  and  Arctic  shrubbery. 
The  melted  ice  shows  a  residuum  of  fine  dust,  which  while 
fresh  emits  a  pungent  odor. 

SUBTERRANEAN  ICE  SHEET  ON  KOTZEBUE  SOUND.  (Otto 
von  Kotzebue,  Entdeckungsreise  in  die  Sudsee,  etc.  Wei- 
mar, 1821.  Vol.  IV.,  page  140.) — Dr.  Eschholz  discovered 
near  Kotzebue  Sound,  in  1816,  a  mass  of  ice  more  than  30 


1 68  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

meters  thick,  and  entirely  covered  with  a  layer  at  least  1 5 
centimeters  thick  of  clay,  sand,  and  earth,  on  which  heavy, 
long  grass  was  growing.  In  the  ice  and  in  the  soil  over- 
laying it,  were  many  remains  of  extinct  animals.  On  the 
side  towards  the  ocean  the  ice  was  entirely  bare,  exposed 
to  sun  and  air,  and  much  of  it  was  melting  away  in 
streamlets. 

FREEZING  LAVA  CAVES,  WASHINGTON.  (R.  W.  Raymond, 
Overland  Monthly,  3d  November,  1869,  page  421.  Th. 
Kirchhoff,  Reisebilder  und  Skizzen  aus  America,  1876, 
vol.  II.,  page  211.  Philadelphia  Ledger,  September  25th, 
1 899.) — These  caves  are  distant  about  four  hours  from  the 
foot  of  Mount  Adams,  and  about  56  kilometers  from  the 
mouth  of  the  White  Salmon  River,  where  it  falls  into  the 
Columbia  River.  The  caves  are  in  basalt,  and  they  are 
connected  at  both  ends  with  the  open  air.  Only  a  few  of 
them  contain  any  ice,  which  in  the  largest  cave  is  about 
6  meters  below  the  entrance,  from  which  one  descends 
by  a  ladder.  The  cave  opens  on  one  side  and  is  some 
15  meters  in  depth,  6  meters  or  8  meters  in  width  and 
3  meters  or  4  meters  in  height.  This  part  contains  the 
most  ice.  The  other  side  gradually  narrows  from  the  en- 
trance, is  longer,  and  reaches  out  through  fallen  rocks 
and  rubbish  to  daylight.  In  the  lower  portion,  there  are 
a  few  ice  stalactites  and  stalagmites  :  one  a  superb,  trans- 
parent hillock,  which  rises  nearly  to  the  roof,  is  called 
the  Iceberg.  A  strong  draught  flows  into  the  cave  in 
summer  through  the  open  arm. 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  169 

The  following  paragraphs  from  the  Philadelphia  Ledger 
probably  refer  to  the  same  locality  : — 

"  Ice  for  the  cutting,  and  that  in  August  and  early  in 
September,  is  a  novelty  not  often  found  in  regions  as  far 
south  as  the  Columbia  River  basin  ;  but  the  novelty  is 
enjoyed  every  year  by  people  who  visit  the  ice  caves  under 
the  shadow  of  Mount  Adams,  about  100  miles  northeast 
of  Portland.  It  is  a  very  extensive  region.  Frank  Mc- 
Farland,  who  has  just  returned  from  a  six  weeks'  vacation 
camping  trip  there,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  its  gen- 
eral make  up. 

"  At  the  ice  caves,  which  are  six  miles  from  Trout 
Lake,  the  stalactites  are  more  beautiful  and  wonderful  this 
year  than  ever  before,  and  this  was  Mr.  McFarland's  fif- 
teenth trip  there.  He  broke  off  and  took  to  camp  chunks 
of  ice  weighing  100  pounds.  Pleasure  parties  who  come  to 
the  lake  use  considerable  of  the  ice  for  packing  their  trout 
to  take  home.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  take  a  torch  of 
pitch  pine  or  a  lantern,  and  go  into  the  big  caves  and  pack 
off  all  the  ice  you  want.  It  is  a  sure  crop,  and  never  fails." 

ICE  SPRING  IN  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS,  OREGON.  (G. 
Gibbs,  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1853,  Second 
Series,  vol.  XV.,  page  146.) — The  Ice  Spring  is  about  60 
kilometers  from  the  South  Pass  to  the  right  of  the  Sweet- 
water  River.  It  is  situated  in  a  low  marshy  swale,  where 
the  ground  is  filled  with  springs ;  and  about  60  centimeters 
below  the  turf  is  a  sheet  of  horizontal  ice,  some  10  centi- 
meters to  30  centimeters  thick,  lasting  throughout  the 


1 70         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

year.  The  ice  is  clear  and  is  disposed  in  hexagonal 
prisms;  it  has  a  slightly  saline  taste,  the  ground  above  it 
being  impregnated  with  salt  and  the  water  near  by  tasting 
of  sulphur. 

FREEZING  LAVA  CAVES  IN  MODOC  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 
(Dispatch,  Frankford,  Pennsylvania,  226.  January,  1897, 
reprinted  from  another  paper.) — The  lava  beds,  where  the 
Modoc  Indians  made  their  last  stand  against  the  United 
States  troops,  are  described  as  an  immense  field  of  lava 
covered  with  a  beautiful  forest  of  conifers.  Numerous 
caves  of  varying  shapes  and  dimensions  are  scattered 
throughout  these  lava  beds.  Some  are  mere  covert  ways, 
with  an  arch  of  stone  thrown  over  them ;  others  are  im- 
mense chambers  some  meters  from  the  surface;  another 
kind  sinks  deeply  and  may  be  in  a  series  of  chambers 
united  by  a  corridor  that  opens  at  the  surface  ;  while 
another  kind  seems  to  go  directly  to  the  centre  of  the 
earth  without  stopping.  Some  of  these  caves  contain  ice 
and  from  them  the  Modocs  drew  their  water  supply  while 
besieged  by  the  troops.  Judging  from  what  is  reported 
of  the  caves  the  quantity  of  ice  in  them  must  be  large. 
The  thermometer  in  winter  in  the  region  is  said  to  go 
as  low  as  —  30°  C. 

FREEZING  LAVA  BEDS  NEAR  MEDICINE  LAKE,  SISKIYOU 
COUNTY,  NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA.  (M.  S.  Baker,  Sierra 
Club  Bulletin,  1899.  Vol.  II.,  page  318.) — "One  other  fea- 
ture of  the  lava  region  must  be  mentioned — the  ice  caves. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  171 

There  are  several  of  these  known,  and  very  likely  many 
more  remain  undiscovered.  Those  located  along  the  edge 
of  the  lava,  near  the  cinder  cone,  I  have  known  to  contain 
ice  and  water  as  late  as  August.  The  largest  I  have 
seen  is  on  the  Mayfield  Road,  about  twenty  miles  east  of 
Bartles.  It  is  situated  in  the  barren  lava,  and  in  one  of 
the  warmest  localities  of  the  region, — and  there  are  few 
cool  spots  in  the  lava  anywhere.  One  enters  the  cave  by 
crawling  down  a  hole  none  too  large.  The  instant  the 
interior  is  reached  the  temperature  falls  in  a  surprising 
way.  Not  more  than  ten  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
hot  rocks  is  a  bed  of  ice,  covered  by  a  foot  or  so  of  ice 
water.  The  body  of  ice  was  perhaps  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet  long,  by  five  feet  across  in  the  widest  places.  This 
cave  is  formed  by  a  fissure  that  extends  a  distance  of 
twenty  miles  from  the  ice  cave  to  Pittville,  and  nearly 
coincides  with  the  4000  foot  level,  as  shown  in  the  map. 
Along  the  southeastern  half  of  this  earth  fissure  the  south- 
west wall  has  faulted,  leaving  a  cliff,  which,  in  places,  must 
be  nearly  200  feet  high." 

FREEZING  SHAFTS,  MONTANA. — Mr.  Robert  Butler,  of 
San  Jose,  Cal.,  has  given  me  much  information  about  gla- 
cieres  in  Montana.  He  visited  one  miners'  shaft  which  is 
situated  about  80  kilometers  up  the  Rosebud  River  from 
Rosebud  Station  on  the  Northern  Pacific  R.  R.,  and  about 
10  kilometers  northeast  of  the  Cheyenne  Indian  Agency. 
It  is  on  the  north  slope  of  the  Little  Wolf  Mountains,  near 
the  summit,  at  the  head  of  Greenleaf  Creek.  The  canyon 


172          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

and  surrounding  slopes  are  covered  with  a  dense  growth 
of  pine.  The  rock  has  the  appearance  of  scoriae  caused 
by  the  burning  of  immense  beds  of  coal  in  recent  geo- 
logical times.  The  rock  is  broken  into  comparatively 
small  pieces.  The  altitude  is  some  1200  meters.  The 
forest,  the  volcanic  ash  and  the  altitude,  besides  the  loose 
rock  formation,  makes  this  place  a  natural  ice  house. 
Ten  or  twelve  years  ago  three  prospectors,  looking  for 
silver,  sunk  a  shaft  here.  At  a  depth  of  about  4  meters 
it  began  to  grow  cold,  and  at  6  meters  they  found  ice 
and  imagined  they  could  feel  an  upward  draught.  Being 
ignorant  and  superstitious,  they  became  frightened  and 
abandoned  the  shaft.  During  the  winter,  the  snow  fills 
the  shaft  half  full  of  ice,  which  then  remains  over  through 
the  summer.  There  is  a  general  report  and  belief  among 
those  who  have  visited  the  well,  that  it  freezes  in  summer 
and  thaws  in  winter.  There  are  thousands  of  mining 
shafts  in  Montana,  and  if  they  are  on  the  north  slope 
of  a  mountain  of  considerable  altitude  and  under  a 
dense  forest  and  not  too  deep,  they  generally  have  ice  at 
the  bottom  during  the  summer.  It  is  also  said  to  be  noth- 
ing new  for  a  miner  in  following  crevices  to  find  them 
filled  with  ice,  especially  if  near  the  surface  on  the  north 
slope  of  a  mountain. 

FREEZING  CAVE,  FERGUS  COUNTY,  MONTANA. — Mr. 
Robert  Butler,  of  San  Jose,  Cal.,  visited  this  place,  which 
is  about  35  kilometers  southeast  of  Lewistown.  It  is  on 
the  north  side  of  a  butte.  Masses  of  ice  and  great  icicles 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  173 

form  in  some  parts  of  the  cave  in  such  quantities  during 
the  latter  part  of  winter  that  the  cave  furnishes  ice  for 
cooling  the  drinking  water  for  several  dozen  families. 
During  July  and  August  the  people  come  from  some 
distance  around  to  get  the  ice.  The  people  in  the  neigh- 
borhood believe  that  the  ice  forms  in  summer  and  thaws 
away  in  winter.  They  also  speak  of  the  ever  upward 
draught  of  cold  air  coming  possibly  from  some  great 
hidden  cavern  in  the  lower  recesses  of  the  mountain. 

FREEZING  WELL  AT  HORSE  PLAINS,  MONTANA.  (Levi 
Allen,  Scientific  American.  New  Series,  2;th  October, 
1883.) — The  well  is  described  as  13.60  meters  deep.  It  is 
dug  through  solid  gravel,  and  in  sinking  it  there  was 
encountered,  at  a  depth  of  10.60  meters,  a  current  of 
air  strong  enough  to  blow  out  a  candle.  It  began  to 
freeze  in  September,  1882,  and  in  November  it  was 
frozen  solid. 

FREEZING  SILVER  MINE,  BIGHORN  COUNTY,  WYOMING. — 
This  place  is  in  the  Sunlight  Basin  of  the  Shoshone 
Mountains.  Mr.  William  Worrell  Wagner,  of  Philadelphia, 
informs  me  that  he  visited  it  in  August,  1897.  ^  ls  a 
silver  mine  or  tunnel,  running  straight  into  the  mountain 
for  about  60  meters,  at  an  altitude  of  about  3300  meters. 
The  peaks  of  the  Teton  range  were  in  sight  from  the 
mouth  of  the  tunnel.  For  the  first  half  of  the  way  in,  a 
good  many  icicles  were  hanging  from  the  rocks.  The  last 
half  of  the  tunnel  was  thickly  coated  with  ice  and  looked 


174         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

like  a  cold  storage  plant.  Snow  disappears  on  the  rocks 
outside  about  June,  and  begins  to  fall  again  in  September, 
so  that  Mr.  Wagner's  visit  was  at  about  the  hottest  time 
of  the  year.  Mr.  Wagner  presented  the  meat  of  a  bull 
wapiti  he  had  shot  to  the  miners,  and  they  stored  it  in 
the  mine  as  if  it  had  been  an  artificial  refrigerator. 

RIFTS  OF  ICE,  MOUNT  MCCLELLAN,  COLORADO.  (Edward 
L.  Berthoud,  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts.  Third 
Series,  1876,  vol.  XI.,  page  108.) — Near  the  summit  of 
Mount  McClellan,  is  the  Centennial  Lode,  which  runs  into 
the  mountain,  at  an  altitude  of  about  3900  meters.  Inter- 
calated in  the  mineral  vein  are  three  or  four  well  defined 
veins  of  solid  ice  parallel  with  the  bedding  of  the  rock 
and  filling  all  its  inner  side-cracks  and  fissures.  The 
same  frozen  substratum  is  found  in  two  other  lodes  near 
by  on  the  same  mountain.  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  known 
on  other  Colorado  mountains.  The  soil  is  loose  and 
largely  made  up  of  rocky  debris,  which  shows  that  the 
ice  is  probably  due  to  local  causes. 

FREEZING  TUNNEL  ON  THE  HAGERMAN  PASS,  COLORADO. 
(Philadelphia  Press,  October  i6th,  1897.) — The  Hager- 
man  Pass  Railroad  line  is  said  to  have  been  abandoned 
after  the  completion  of  the  Busk-Ivanhoe  tunnel,  but  to 
have  been  rebuilt.  The  Hagerman  tunnel  for  a  distance 
of  over  700  meters  was  filled  with  solid  ice,  and  it  required 
blasting  with  dynamite,  and  a  month's  continuous  labor, 
day  and  night,  to  dig  the  ice  out. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  175 

FREEZING  CAVERN  IN  Cow  MOUNTAIN,  COLORADO. 
(Post  Dispatch,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  July  i3th,  1897,  and  Sep- 
tember 5th,  1897.  Mail  Order  Monthly,  St.  Paul,  Minn., 
October,  1899.) — The  cave  was  discovered  by  parties  do- 
ing assessment  work  on  a  group  of  claims.  A  man  was 
picking  in  a  three  meter  hole  when  he  struck  his  pick 
into  an  opening,  which  was  gradually  enlarged  and 
showed  a  deep  pit  underneath.  The  men  got  a  rope 
and  descended  into  an  immense  cavern  full  of  ice. 
Later  exploration  led  to  a  small  hall,  some  5  meters  in 
diameter,  full  of  icicles.  From  here  a  fissure  led  into  a 
second  rock  chamber  larger  than  the  first.  A  small  hole 
in  the  floor  at  an  angle  of  some  45°  gave  access  to  a 
third  and  larger  hall,  about  25  meters  by  40  meters.  Great 
masses  of  ice  were  found  in  this,  also  a  small  lake,  about 
1 2  meters  by  20  meters.  "  Some  who  have  visited  the 
wonderful  discovery  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  a  great 
cave  or  fissure  in  a  glacier  which  for  centuries  has  been 
slowly  making  its  way  down  from  Pike's  Peak  and  whose 
waters  are  now  feeding  the  Arkansas  River." 

WINDHOLE,  ARIZONA.  (Christian  Herald,  March  24th, 
1897.) — Mr.  Cofman,  while  drilling  a  well  on  his  place,  is 
said  to  have  opened  a  windhole  from  which  the  escaping 
air  current  was  strong  enough  to  blow  off  the  hats  of  the 
men  who  were  recovering  the  lost  drill.  Some  days  the 
air  escapes  with  such  force  that  pebbles  the  size  of  peas 
are  thrown  up,  accompanied  by  a  sound  much  like  the 
distant  bellowing  of  a  fog  horn.  Again  for  days  there  will 


176         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

be  a  suction  current,  unaccompanied  by  sound,  in  which  the 
current  of  air  passes  into  the  earth  with  somewhat  less 
force  than  when  escaping,  and  any  light  object,  as  a  feather 
or  a  piece  of  paper,  will  be  immediately  sucked  in.  The 
account  is  probably  exaggerated. 

FREEZING  LAVA  CAVE  NEAR  FLAGSTAFF,  ARIZONA. — Pro- 
fessor W.  B.  Scott  of  Princeton  University  told  me  of 
this  cave,  which  he  had  not  visited  himself.  It  lies  14.5 
kilometers  south  of  Flagstaff,  on  the  Mesa  table  land,  at 
an  altitude  of  about  2000  meters.  It  was  described  to 
Professor  Scott  as  a  double  cave,  with  two  floors,  one  over 
the  other,  the  lower  containing  the  most  ice.  It  is  in  lava, 
and  can  only  be  entered  by  crawling  in  on  hands  and 
knees. 

FREEZING  CAVE  OR  GORGE,  WHITE  MOUNTAINS,  ARI- 
ZONA.— Mr.  Frank  Hamilton  Cushing  has  told  me  of  this 
place.  It  is  a  cleft  among  lava  rock,  which  being  roofed  at 
the  further  end,  might  be  described  as  a  cave.  In  this  the 
ice  remains  until  June  or  July,  much  later  than  anywhere 
else  in  the  neighborhood.  The  Zuni  Indians  worship  be- 
fore this,  calling  the  ice  the  breath  of  the  Gods,  the  snow 
they  consider  as  a  sort  of  down.  The  region  is  arid, 
which  makes  any  water  precious,  and  this  fact  has  de- 
veloped the  element  of  mysticism  about  snow  and  ice 
among  the  Indians. 

FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  GALENA,  BLACK  HILLS,  SOUTH 
DAKOTA.  (Miss  L.  A.  Owen,  Cave  Regions  of  the  Ozarks 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  1 77 

and  Black  Hills.  Cincinnati,  1898,  page  209):  "At  Galena, 
a  new  mining  town  of  golden  promise,  there  is  reported  to 
be  an  Ice  Cave,  where  ice  forms  at  all  seasons,  and  during 
the  warm  weather  is  a  source  of  comfort  and  pleasure  to 
the  miners." 

WlNDHOLES  IN  THE  OzARK  MOUNTAINS,   MISSOURI. Mr. 

H.  F.  Brinckerhoff,  of  Aurora,  Mo.,  informs  me  that  there 
are  a  number  of  cold  air  current  caves  in  the  Ozark  Moun- 
tain region.  One  of  them  is  some  19  kilometers  south  of 
Aurora,  Lawrence  County,  and  is  used  for  cold  storage  in 
summer.  There  is  a  cave  in  a  limestone  bluff  about  15 
meters  above  a  river,  and  in  the  rear  is  this  windhole, 
which  is  an  opening  about  30  centimeters  high  and  3 
meters  wide.  A  strong  current  of  air  comes  out  from  it  in 
summer,  and  the  hotter  the  air  outside,  the  stronger  is  the 
outward  coming  current.  In  winter  the  current  is  re- 
versed. The  outward  current  is  so  strong  in  very  hot 
weather  that  a  handkerchief  held  in  it  is  straightened  out 
to  an  angle  of  about  45°. 

FREEZING  CAVE  AND  WELL  AT  DECORAH,  IOWA.  De- 
scribed in  Part  I.  (Dr.  C.  A.  White,  Report  of  Geological 
Survey  of  State  of  Iowa,  1870,  vol.  I.,  page  80.  A.  F. 
Kovarik,  Scientific  American  Supplement,  No.  1195,  No- 
vember 26th,  1898,  pages  19,158,  19,159). 

On  June  ist,  1869,  Dr.  White  found  the  ice  dry  and 
well  frozen,  and  he  thought  it  was  then  accumulating.  The 
cave  was  cool  and  apparently  dry,  and  no  strong  air  cur- 
rent was  passing  through. 


178          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Mr.  Alois  F.  Kovarik,  of  the  Decorah  Institute,  has 
made  a  valuable  series  of  observations  about  the  Decorah 
Cave.  The  temperatures  he  observed  were  the  following:. 


IN  THE  VALLEY, 

LOCUS 

SHADE. 

DIVISION. 

GLACIALIS. 

END. 

July 

i,  1897  .    .    . 

•    •    •   +33-3° 

+     2.2° 

0.0° 

0.0° 

" 

27,      "      .   .    . 

.     .     .     +21.1° 

+    5.o° 

0.0° 

0.0° 

Aug. 

14,      "... 

.  .  .  +32.2° 

+   5-8° 

+  3-1° 

0.0° 

Sept. 

3,     "      •    •    • 

.  .  .  +32.2° 

+    7-2° 

+  3-1° 

+  8.3° 

" 

18,      "      .    .    . 

.  .  .  +33.9° 

+    8.6° 

+  6.1° 

+  8.3° 

Oct. 

16,      "      .    .    . 

.  .  .  +24.0° 

+  10.0° 

+  8.3° 

+  8.3° 

" 

30,      "... 

.     .     .    +10.0° 

+   7.2° 

+  4-7° 

+  5-0° 

Dec. 

u,      "... 

.     .     .             2.2° 

-   2.7° 

-1.1° 

-2.0° 

Jan. 

8,  1898  .    .    . 

.     .     .             0.0° 

-   2.7° 

-3-9° 

0.0° 

t  < 

22,       "... 

.    .   .         5-0° 

_   6.1° 

-3-9° 

-3-9° 

Feb. 

26,      "... 

.     .     .            0.0° 

_   6.6° 

-6.6° 

-5-0° 

March 

12,       "... 

.     .     .    +     2.8° 

-    1.6° 

-2.7° 

-2.7° 

" 

26,       "... 

.    .    .   +    8.8° 

-    i-7° 

—  1.6° 

—  1.  1 

April 

16,      "... 

.    .    .  +25.6° 

-    i-4° 

+  1.1° 

—  1.1° 

i  < 

30,    "... 

.    .    .   +13.9° 

+    1.1° 

-1.1° 

—  1.1° 

May 

28,   "   .  .  . 

.    .    .   +17.2° 

+    1.7° 

-0.3° 

0.0° 

June 

9,      "     ... 

.    .    .   +25.0° 

+    1.7° 

-0.3° 

0.0° 

" 

18,      "... 

.    .    .   +22.3° 

+    1.7° 

-0.2° 

0.0° 

July 

16,      "... 

.    -    -   +35-0° 

+    7-2° 

0.0° 

+  2.2° 

On  the  ist  of  July,  1897,  a  co^  breeze  was  noticed 
coming  from  the  cave  to  a  distance  of  at  least  30  meters. 
At  the  entrance  the  breeze  was  strong  enough  to  blow 
out  a  candle.  This  breeze  was  not  noticed  at  other 
times.  From  December  to  February  inclusive,  on  the 
contrary,  the  breeze  was  reversed.  From  July  to  October, 
1897,  the  walls  of  the  cave  were  moist.  From  October 
to  February  they  were  dry.  In  February  frost  began  to 


LIST   OF    GLAClfcRES.  1/9 

appear  on  the  walls.  On  March  i2th,  1898,  the  walls 
were  covered  with  frost.  The  ice  appeared  at  a  spot 
nearly  at  the  end  of  the  cave  on  the  26th  of  March,  1898. 
At  a  place  about  6.50  meters  nearer  the  entrance,  how- 
ever, is  where  most  ice  forms.  This  place  Mr.  Kovarik 
calls  Locus  Glacialis.  The  ice  appeared  here  about  the 
29th  of  May,  1898.  It  increased  rapidly  up  to  June  i2th, 
when  it  was  at  its  maximum,  and  was  about  two  meters 
in  width.  It  generally  covers  the  north  wall  from  top 
to  base.  The  greatest  thickness  in  1898  was  29  centi- 
meters. 

The  temperature  which  Mr.  Kovarik  recorded  on  the 
1 6th  of  April  at  Locus  Glacialis  of  +  i.i  seems  an  anom- 
alous one.  On  writing  to  him  he  sent  me  the  following 
explanation:  "April  i6th,  after  I  left  the  thermometer  at 
Locus  Glacialis  the  usual  time,  I  noticed  that  it  registered 
+  1.1°  C.  It  seemed  singular,  for  at  both  the  Division 
and  the  End,  the  thermometer  registered  considerably 
lower.  I  left  the  thermometer  at  its  place  for  about  an 
hour  longer,  and  noticed  then  that  it  did  not  register 
differently.  I  would  suggest  this  explanation :  This  is 
true  about  water  that  upon  freezing  it  gives  off  its  latent 
heat.  Now  on  April  i6th  some  water  dripped  into  the 
cave  on  the  wall  near  where  the  thermometer  was,  about 
i  .50  meters  from  the  floor.  The  amount  of  water  was  very 
small,  but  as  it  came  in  contact  with  the  cold  wall  it  began 
to  give  out  its  latent  heat  which  affected  the  close  by 
thermometer.  The  temperature  of  the  rock  was  without 
doubt  between  —  i.°  and  —  3°." 


ISO         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

FREEZING  CAVERN  AT  BRAINARD,  IOWA.  (Alois  F.  Ko- 
varik,  Decorah  Public  Opinion,  September  2Oth,  1899.) — 
This  little  cave  is  situated  on  the  north  side  of  a  hill 
about  1.5  kilometers  northwest  of  Brainard.  It  is  about 
4.50  meters  deep.  On  June  loth,  1899,  Mr.  Kovarik 
found  the  floor  and  walls  covered  with  ice.  The  tem- 
perature was  o°  C.  The  owner  claims  to  have  taken 
enough  ice  out  of  it  on  July  4th,  1897,  to  freeze  cream. 

FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  ELKINSVILLE,  BROWN  COUNTY, 
INDIANA.  (Clipping  from  a  western  newspaper,  1896.) — 
The  entrance  is  said  to  be  overlapped  by  trees  and  to 
resemble  a  mine  shaft.  The  winding  way  leads  to  a 
hollow  some  15  meters  below  the  surface,  resembling  a 
broad  vaulted  corridor,  which  is  known  to  the  natives  as 
the  devil's  chamber  and  where  the  temperature  is  low. 
From  this  point  several  galleries  lead  further  in,  and  from 
one  of  them  comes  a  blast  of  icy  cold  air.  This  passage 
is  similar  to  the  one  at  the  entrance  to  the  cave,  but  after 
a  few  meters  frost  is  visible,  and  further  on  it  is  thick  on 
all  sides,  like  the  crust  that  is  formed  on  the  pipes  of  an 
ice  plant.  The  narrow  way  leads  to  a  big  chamber,  known 
as  the  ice  vault.  In  this  dome,  which  is  fully  30  meters  in 
width,  the  ice  forms  a  large  stalagmite  and  is  of  unknown 
depth. 

FREEZING  GULLY  ON  MOUNT  ABRAHAM,  MAINE.  (Jackson, 
Report  of  the  Geology  of  Maine,  1839,  III.) — Ice  was  found 
in  June  at  an  altitude  of  1032  meters  among  the  boulders 
in  one  of  the  gullies  of  Mount  Abraham. 


FREEZING   CAVERN  AT   BRAINARD. 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Kovarik. 


LIST    OF    GLACIERES.  l8l 

SUBTERRANEAN  ICE  IN  KING'S  RAVINE,  MOUNT  ADAMS, 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — Described  in  Part  I.,  page  i. 

ICE  GULCH  ON  CRESCENT  MOUNTAIN,  RANDOLPH,  NEW 
HAMPSHIRE. — Described  in  Part  I.,  page  83. 

ICE  IN  A  HOLE  AT  DIXVILLE  NOTCH,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — 
Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  has  examined  this  place, 
which  he  is  sure  is  a  refrigerator.  It  is  in  a  hole  north  of 
the  cliff  and  near  its  top. 

ICE  ON  MOUNT  GARFIELD,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — Mr.  John 
Ritchie,  Jr.,  informs  me  that  ice  was  discovered  among  the 
boulders  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Garfield  during  the 
summer  of  1897. 

FREEZING  TALUS  NEAR  RUMNEY,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE. — De- 
scribed in  Part  I.,  page  85. 

FREEZING  TALUS  NEAR  NORTH  WOODSTOCK,  NEW  HAMP- 
SHIRE.— Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr.,  has  examined  this  locality. 
He  thinks  the  ice  was  gone  in  July,  but  judges  it  to  be  on 
the  level  of  an  old  talus  and  a  couple  of  meters  down. 

FREEZING  WELL  AT  LYMAN,  GRAFTON  COUNTY,  NEW 
HAMPSHIRE.  (Geology  of  Vermont,  1861,  I.,  page  197.) — A 
well  in  that  town  is  reported  as  having  been  frozen  solid 
in  June,  1816,  at  a  depth  of  about  2.60  meters  from  the 
surface. 


1 82  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ICY  WELLS  AT  THE  FOOT  OF  MOUNT  MANSFIELD,  VERMONT. 
(N.  M.  Lowe,  Science  Observer,  vol.  II.,  page  58.) — These 
are  described  as  being  really  "  incipient  caves." 

FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  MANCHESTER,  VERMONT. — De- 
scribed in  Part  I.,  page  76. 

ICE  BED  OF  WALLINGFORD,  RUTLAND  COUNTY,  VERMONT. 
Described  in  Parti.,  page  99.  (S.  Pearl  Lathrop,  American 
Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1844,  XL VI.,  page  331.) — 
Dr.  Lathrop  says  that  ice  has  been  found  at  the  Ice  Bed 
as  late  as  September. 

FREEZING  WELLS  AT  BRANDON,  VERMONT.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  77.  (Geology  of  Vermont,  1861,  vol.  I.,  page 
192.) — Mr.  Hager  says  that  the  well  was  dug  into  a  mass 
of  sand  and  gravel,  of  the  kind  known  as  modified  drift. 
The  gravel  was  frozen  at  the  time  of  digging.  The  Boston 
Natural  History  Society,  in  1859,  sank  two  wells,  one  21 
meters  southeast  of  the  original  one,  the  other  21  meters 
northwest.  The  first  was  10  meters  in  depth  and  did  not 
reach  ice ;  the  second  was  1 1  meters  in  depth,  and  came 
to  the  layer  of  frozen  gravel. 

CAVE  NEAR  BRANDON,  VERMONT.  (Geology  of  Vermont, 
1 86 1,  vol.  I.,  page  197.) — Mr.  Hager  heard  that  about  3 
kilometers  north  of  Brandon  village  was  a  cavern,  in  a 
hill,  in  which  ice  is  found  most  of  the  summer. 

ICY  GULF  NEAR  GREAT  BARRINGTON,  MASSACHUSETTS. — 
Mentioned  in  Part  I.,  page  99. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  183 

ICY  GLEN  NEAR  STOCKBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS. — De- 
scribed in  Part  I.,  page  75. 

THE  SNOW  HOLE,  NEW  YORK:  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN, 
MASSACHUSETTS.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  98.  (Dewey, 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1819,  vol.  I.,  page 
340;  and  1822,  vol.  V.,  page  398.) — Mr.  Dewey  found,  in 
June,  snow  2  meters  deep  on  ice  of  unknown  depth.  On 
his  second  visit  he  found  less  ice  and  snow  than  on  his 
first  visit,  as  the  trees  in  the  neighborhood  had  been 
cut  down. 

GLACIERE  NEAR  WILLIAMSTOWN,  MASSACHUSETTS. — De- 
scribed in  Part  I.,  page  101. 

FREEZING  WELL  NEAR  WARE,  MASSACHUSETTS. — (Geol- 
ogy of  Vermont,  1861,  vol.  I.,  page  197.) — Depth  11.5 
meters.  This  is  in  a  sand  and  gravel  formation  much 
like  that  at  Brandon,  except  that  there  is  less  clay,  and 
that  none  of  the  pebbles  are  limestone. 

WOLFSHOLLOW    NEAR    SALISBURY,  CONNECTICUT.       (C.  A. 

Lee,  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1824,  vol. 
VIII.,  page  254.) — In  the  eastern  portion  of  the  township, 
at  an  altitude  of  about  800  meters,  is  a  chasm  about  100 
meters  long,  18  meters  deep  and  12  meters  wide.  It 
is  in  mica-slate,  and  is  sheltered  by  large  trees.  At  the 
bottom  at  one  end  is  a  spring  of  cold  water  and  a  cave 
of  considerable  extent,  in  which  ice  and  snow  is  found 
the  greater  part  of  the  year. 


1 84  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

NATURAL  ICE  HOUSE,  NEAR  MERIDEN,  CONNECTICUT. 
(Benjamin  Silliman,  American  Journal  of  Science  and 
Arts,  1822,  vol.  IV.,  page  174.) — It  lies  between  New 
Haven  and  Hartford,  about  32  kilometers  from  the  sea, 
at  an  altitude  of  about  60  meters.  The  ice  is  found  in 
a  narrow  defile  of  perpendicular  trap  rock,  at  the  bottom 
filled  with  broken  stones.  The  defile  is  so  placed  that  in 
summer  the  sun  only  shines  into  it  for  about  an  hour 
each  day;  it  is  also  well  protected  by  surrounding  trees, 
the  leaves  from  which  form  beds  at  the  bottom  among 
the  rocks  and  help  to  protect  the  ice. 

NATURAL  ICE  HOUSE  OF  NORTHFORD,  CONNECTICUT. 
(Benjamin  Silliman,  American  Journal  of  Science  and 
Arts,  1822,  vol.  IV.,  page  177.) — About  n  kilometers  from 
New  Haven  on  the  Middletown  road  between  Branford 
and  Northford,  is  a  gorge  where  ice  remains  throughout 
the  year.  In  this  case  the  ice  is  mixed  with  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  leaves  and  dirt;  it  has  sometimes  been 
brought  to  New  Haven. 

ICE  IN  AN  OLD  IRON  MINE,  NEAR  PORT  HENRY,  LAKE 
CHAMPLAIN.  (Geology  of  Vermont,  1861,  vol.  I.,  page 
199.) — Ice  was  found  during  the  summer  at  a  depth  of 
from  15  meters  to  30  meters,  and  a  current  of  cold  air 
was  issuing  from  the  opening.  There  seems  to  be  more 
than  one  opening  to  the  mine. 

FREEZING  TALUS  ON  LOWER  AUSABLE  POND,  ESSEX 
COUNTY,  NEW  YORK. — Described  in  Part  I.,  page  79. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  185 

FREEZPNG  TALUS  AT  THE  SOUTH  BASE  OF  THE  GIANT  OF 
IE  VALLEY,  ESSEX  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK.— Described   in 
Part  I.,  page  81. 

FREEZING  BOULDER  TALUS,  INDIAN  PASS,  NEW  YORK. 
See  Part  I.,  page  83. 

FREEZING  BOULDER  TALUS,  AVALANCHE  PASS,  NEW 
YORK. — See  Part  I.,  page  83. 

FREEZING  CAVE  NEAR  CARLISLE,  NEW  YORK. — See 
Part  I.,  page  93. 

ICE    AMONG    THE    CATSKILL    MOUNTAINS,    NEW    YORK. — 

Mr.  George  Brinton  Phillips  informs  me  that  he  has 
seen  subterranean  ice  in  August  among  boulders  in  a 
gorge  in  the  Catskills  near  the  Stony  Cloves  road,  start- 
ing out  from  Haines'  Falls.  The  people  in  the  neigh- 
borhood speak  of  the  place  as  an  ice  cave. 

GORGE  IN  THE  SHAWANGUNK  MOUNTAINS,  NEAR  EL- 
LENVILLE,  ULSTER  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  91.  (Heilprin,  Around  the  World,  1894,  Page 
194.) — Professor  Heilprin  found  in  July  a  mass  of  ice 
measuring  about  thirty  meters  in  length  and  i  meter  in 
depth.  The  thermometer  near  the  ice  read  about  i°  C. 
above  freezing  point,  the  day  being  hot.  Icicles  hung 
from  the  ledges  on  the  side  of  the  gorge. 

FREEZING  GORGE  AT  SAM'S  POINT,  NEW  YORK. — See 
Part  I.,  page  93. 


1 86  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ICE  DEPOSITS  AND  WINDHOLES  AT  WATERTOWN,  NEW 
YORK. — Described  in  Part  I.,  page  86. 

FREEZING  WELL  NEAR  TIOGA,  NEW  YORK. — Depth,  23 
meters.  No  information. 

FREEZING  WELL  NEAR  PRATTSBURG,  NEW  YORK. — Depth, 
6.5  meters.  No  information. 

FREEZING  WELL  NEAR  OWEGO,  NEW  YORK.  Described 
in  Part  I.,  page  74.  (D.  O.  Macomber,  American  Journal  of 
Arts  and  Sciences,  1839,  vol.  XXXVI.,  page  184.  Well's 
Annual  of  Scientific  Discovery,  1856,  page  190.) — The 
thermometer  is  said  to  have  stood  at  — 1.2°  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  biggest  well  when  it  registered  —  20°  out- 
side. When  a  candle  was  let  down,  the  flame  became 
agitated  and  was  thrown  in  one  direction  at  the  depth 
of  9  meters ;  at  the  bottom  the  flame  was  still,  but  soon 
died  out.  Large  masses  of  ice  were  found  in  the  big- 
gest well  as  late  as  July,  and  the  men  who  made  the 
well  were  forced  to  put  on  thick  clothing  in  June,  and 
even  so  could  not  work  for  more  than  two  hours  at  a 
time. 

CAVE  IN  THE  PANAMA  ROCKS,  CHAUTAUQUA,  NEW  YORK. 
The  Rev.  Horace  C.  Hovey  informs  me  that  he  has  been 
in  a  small  cave  in  this  locality,  and  that  he  found  ice  in  it. 

CAVE  IN  SUSSEX  COUNTY,  NEW  JERSEY. — A  clipping  from 
a  newspaper,  with  neither  name  nor  date,  says  that  new 
ice  is  found  daily  on  the  land  of  Peter  Feather,  in  the 
mouth  of  an  unexplored  cavern.  A  small  stream  of  water 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  187 

runs  out  of  the  cavern  and  forms  a  pool  at  the  opening, 
and  here  it  is  that  the  ice  forms.  Enough  has  been  taken 
in  one  day  to  freeze  two  cans  of  ice  cream.  A  cold 
draught  of  air  issues  continuously  from  the  cavern. 

HOLE  CONTAINING  ICE  ON  BLUE  MOUNTAIN,  NEW  JERSEY. 
Reported  ;  no  information. 

GORGE  CONTAINING  ICE  ON  BALD  EAGLE  MOUNTAIN, 
CLINTON  COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA. — Mr.  Henry  Chapman 
Mercer,  of  Doylestown,  learned  of  the  existence  of  this 
gorge  during  the  summer  of  1897.  ^  ^s  near  the  village 
of  McElhatten,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lock  Haven,  and  is 
some  3  kilometers  distant  from  the  Susquehanna  River. 
Ice  is  said  to  remain  over  during  the  entire  summer. 

FREEZING  CAVE  AND  WINDHOLES  NEAR  FARRANDSVILLE, 
CLINTON  COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA. — Described  in  Part  I., 
page  93. 

UNDERGROUND  ICE  FORMATIONS,  SULLIVAN  COUNTY, 
PENNSYLVANIA,  ON  THE  SOUTHWESTERN  BORDERS  OF  LY- 
COMING  COUNTY. — Mr.  W.  Coleman  Hall  of  Philadelphia, 
about  twenty  years  ago,  found  ice  in  two  or  three 
places,  on  Bear  Creek,  north  of  Muncy  Creek,  about 
25  kilometers  north  of  the  Susquehanna  River,  and 
southwest  of  Eagles  Mere.  The  ice  was  under  rocks, 
in  what  may  be  described  as  limestone  sinks.  Since 
the  destruction  of  the  forest,  the  ice  has  become  less 
abundant,  if  indeed  any  still  forms. 


1 88  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

GLACIERES  IN  ABANDONED  COAL  MINES  NEAR  SUMMIT, 
CARBON  COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA. — Described  in  Part  I., 
page  95- 

ICE  CAVE  RAILROAD  STATION,  LUZERNE  COUNTY,  PENN- 
SYLVANIA. On  the  Bowman  Creek  branch  of  the  Lehigh 
Valley  R.  R. — Mr.  F.  Holschuh,  agent  at  Luzerne,  in- 
forms me  that  about  2  kilometers  from  Ice  Cave  Station 
is  a  little  waterfall  on  the  side  of  a  mountain  which  was 
formerly  covered  with  dense  forest.  A  short  distance  be- 
low the  fall,  a  large  hollow  place  has  been  worn  out  of 
the  rocks  by  the  action  of  the  water.  The  overhanging 
rocks  give  this  almost  the  appearance  of  a  cave.  While 
the  forest  was  still  thick  and  when  the  winter  was  cold, 
ice  would  form  under  these  rocks  and  would  not  disap- 
pear until  summer  was  well  advanced.  The  station  was 
called  Ice  Cave  on  account  of  this  place. 

HOLE  CONTAINING  ICE  AT  MILLERSTOWN,  PENNSYLVA- 
NIA.— Reported;  no  information. 

FREEZING  TALUS  AT  SPRUCE  CREEK,  HUNTINGDON 
COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  90. 
The  Philadelphia  Ledger  of  July  6th,  1896,  states  that 
around  the  boulders  where  the  ice  lies,  there  are  found 
varieties  of  plants  strongly  arctic  in  character. 

ICE  MOUNTAIN,  HAMPSHIRE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA.  (C.  B. 
Hay  den,  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1843, 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  189 

vol.  XLV.,  page  78.) — It  lies  on  the  North  River,  near 
the  road  leading  from  Winchester  to  Romney,  at  an  alti- 
tude of  from  about  220  meters  to  240  meters.  One 
side  of  the  hill  is  entirely  composed  of  loose  stones, 
among  which  an  abundance  of  ice  is  found  at  all  times, 
although  the  sun  shines  on  the  upper  surface  of  the 
stones  from  ten  in  the  morning  until  sunset.  The  ice 
is  regularly  used  in  summer  by  the  people  near  by. 
Constant  and  strong  air  currents  issue  from  the  crev- 
ices in  the  rocks.  Similar,  but  smaller  accumulations, 
are  said  to  occur  in  the  same  county.  Mrs.  George  B. 
Balch  visited  the  Ice  Mountain  in  August,  1878.  She 
saw  no  ice,  but  the  air  under  the  stones  was  very  cold. 

BLOWING  CAVE,  BATH  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA. — Mrs.  Hor- 
ace Jayne  informs  me  that  there  is  a  blowing  cave  near 
the  Cowpasture  River,  about  half  way  on  the  old  stage 
road  between  Millboro  and  Warm  Springs.  A  draught 
flows  out  from  it,  strong  enough  to  blow  the  grass  about, 
three  or  four  meters  away.  The  draught  is  cold,  per- 
haps abnormally  so.  The  cave  has  not  yet  been  ex- 
plored. 

SOUTH    AMERICA. 

ICE  SHEETS  ON  MOUNT  CHIMBORAZO.  (A.  von  Hum- 
boldt,  Travels  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions,  London,  1814, 
vol.  I.,  page  156.) — "On  Chimborazo,  enormous  heaps 
of  ice  are  found  covered  with  sand,  and  in  the  same 
manner  as  at  the  Peak  [of  Teneriffe]  far  below  the 
inferior  limit  of  the  perpetual  snows." 


GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

TIERRA  DEL  FuEGO.  (A.  Winchel,  Walks  and  Talks, 
1898,  page  122.) — "On  Tierra  del  Fuego  ice  and  lava 
are  found  interstratified  for  a  great  depth,  each  winter's 
snow  being  covered  by  a  new  lava  sheet." 

TENERIFFE. 
LA    CUEVA    DE    LA    NlEVE    OR    DEL    HlELO.       (Humboldt, 

Travels  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions,  1814,  vol.  I.,  pages  154, 
156.  C.  Piazzi  Smyth,  Teneriffe,  an  Astronomer  s  Ex- 
periment, 1858,  page  348.) — La  Cueva  de  la  Nieve  lies 
at  an  altitude  of  3267  meters  in  the  Malpays  on  the 
Peak  of  Teneriffe,  just  below  the  snow  line.  It  is  in 
obsidian.  The  entrance  is  3.6  meters  high  and  2.7  me- 
ters broad.  The  grotto  is  36  meters  long,  6  meters 
wide,  and  4  meters  high.  The  descent  into  the  cave  is 
so  steep  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  lowered  by  ropes. 
Professor  Smyth  found  in  July  an  ice  floor  about  60 
centimeters  thick  which  was  covered  with  water.  A 
good  deal  of  snow  was  lying  near  the  mouth  of  the 
cave.  The  walls  were  covered  with  ice  and  icicles  and 
a  few  small  ice  cones  rose  on  the  ice  floor. 

ICELAND. 

THE  SURTSHELLIR  OR  CAVE  OF  SURTUR.  (Olafsen  and 
Povelsen,  Voyage  en  Islande,  Paris,  1802.  Henderson, 
Iceland,  1819,  2d  ed.,  page  420.  Guimard,  Voyage  en 
Islande,  page  481.) — The  Surtshellir  lies  in  the  volcanic 
waste  of  Westisland,  and  is  in  lava  which  has  flowed  from 
the  Bald  Jokul.  The  approach  is  through  an  open  chasm. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  191 

The  length  of  the  cave  is  1534  meters,  with  an  average 
width  of  from  15  meters  to  17  meters,  and  a  nearly  uni- 
form height  of  from  9  meters  to  n  meters.  In  four 
places  the  roof  is  broken  and  allows  daylight  to  enter.  A 
great  deal  of  ice  is  sometimes  found  in  the  cave,  in  the 
shape  of  an  ice  floor,  transparent  icy  pillars,  hanging  icy 
pendants,  and  columns  and  arches  of  ice  along  the  walls. 
Some  of  the  pillars  have  been  found  2.50  meters  high. 

KUTLAGAYA.  (A.  Winchel,  Walks  and  Talks,  1898, 
page  122.) — "In  1860  the  crater  of  the  mountain  Kutla- 
gaya,  in  Iceland,  hurled  out  simultaneously  into  the  air 
lumps  of  lava  and  ice,  all  intermingled  together." 

SCANDINAVIA. 

ICE  IN  THE  MINES  OF  NORDMARK.  (Jars,  Voyages 
Metallurgiques,  1774,  page  105.) — 13  kilometers  north 
of  Philipstadt,  Wermeland,  Sweden,  a  number  of  holes 
were  dug,  some  to  a  depth  of  120  meters.  Ice  of  some 
thickness  formed  in  some  of  these  towards  the  end  of 
winter,  and  lasted  until  about  September,  despite  the 
fires  of  the  workmen. 

PERSBERG  IRON  MINES,  SWEDEN.  (J.  Prestwich,  Col- 
lected papers,  etc.,  on  page  206,  quotes  Dr.  Clark's  Travels 
in  Scandinavia^) — Ice  is  said  to  have  been  found  on  the 
sides  and  bottom  of  the  mine  to  a  depth  of  about  135 
meters. 


192          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ICE  CAVES  REPORTED  IN  NORWAY, — I  was  told  in  Nor- 
way that  some  of  the  caves  in  the  mountains  near  the 
Swartisen  ice  field  contained  ice,  but  I  do  not  know 
whether  this  is  true.  I  suspect  that  there  are  glacier  ice 
caves  which  have  given  rise  to  this  report. 

ENGLAND. 

HELVELLYN,  CUMBERLAND.  (Wordsworth,  Fidelity?) — 
The  following  verses  were  pointed  out  to  me  by  Mr. 
Bunford  Samuel.  As  far  as  I  know  they  are  the  only 
poetry  about  glacieres  : — 

' '  It  was  a  cove,  a  huge  recess 
That  keeps,  till  June,  December's  snow; 
A  lofty  precipice  in  front, 
A  silent  tarn  below  ! 
Far  in  the  bosom  of  Helvellyn, 
Remote  from  public  road  or  dwelling 
Pathway  or  cultivated  land 
From  trace  of  human  foot  or  hand. ' ' 

ICE  IN  AN  OLD  COPPER  MINE,  CUMBERLAND.  (J.  Clifford 
Ward,  Nature,  vol.  XI.,  page  310.) — Ice  reported  as  a 
rare  occurrence. 

LUDCHURCH  CHASM,  STAFFORDSHIRE.  (R.  K.  Dent  and 
Joseph  Hill's  Historic  Staffordshire,  quote  Dr.  Plot, 
1686.) — Mr.  Bunford  Samuel  called  my  attention  to  this 
book,  in  which  Dr.  Plot  is  quoted  as  saying  that  as  late  as 
the  lyth  of  July,  snow  has  been  found  in  Ludchurch 
Chasm.  Messrs.  Dent  and  Hill  do  not  mention  anything 
of  the  kind  as  occurring  now. 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  193 

BLOWING  CAVE  IN  DENBIGHSHIRE,  WALES. — A  news- 
paper cutting  says  that  there  are  such  strong  eruptions  of 
winds  from  a  cave  in  this  neighborhood  as  to  toss  back  to 
a  great  height  in  the  air  any  article  of  apparel  thrown  in. 

TIN  CROFT  MINE,  CORNWALL.  (J.  Prestwich,  Collected 
papers,  etc.,  page  206,  quotes  Mr.  Moyle.) — Ice  has  been 
found  in  abundance  in  this  mine  at  a  depth  of  nearly  100 
meters. 

CENTRAL  EUROPE. 

GLACIERE  DE  CHAUX-LES-PASSAVANT.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  8.  (Poissenot,  Nouvelles  Histoires  Trag- 
iques  de  Benigne  Poissenot,  licencie  aux  lots.  A  Paris, 
chez  Guillaume  Bichon,  rue  S.  Jacques,  a  Penseigne  du 
Bichot,  1586,  avec  privilege  du  Roy,  pages  436-453.  Gol- 
lut,  Les  Memoires  historiques  de  la  Repub.  Sequanoise,  et 
des  princes  de  la  Franche  Comte  de  Bourgogne,  par  M. 
Lois  Gollut,  Advocat  au  Parlement  de  Dole;  A  Dole, 
1592.  Trouillet,  Memoires  de  la  Societe  d*  Emulation  die 
Doubs,  1885.  Girardot,  Memoires  de  la  Societe  d' Emula- 
tion du  Doubs,  1886.) 

The  earliest  notice  of  a  glaciere  which  I  have  been 
able  to  find  is  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  giving  an  ac- 
count of  a  visit  to  the  Glaciere  de  Chaux-les-Passavant 
in  1584,  by  Benigne  Poissenot,  a  French  lawyer.  The 
account,  which  I  have  translated  as  literally  as  possible, 
is  in  a  special  chapter,  as  follows  :— 

"  SIR  : — Since  our  separation,  I  have  had  this  pleasure 
(heuf)  to  hear  news  of  you  only  once,  having  found 


194  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

your  brother  in  Paris ;  who,  having  assured  me  of  your 
good  health  (disposition),  informed  me  of  how  since  we 
had  seen  each  other  you  had  travelled  to  Italy,  even 
as  far  as  Greece,  of  which  you  had  seen  a  large  portion : 
and  that  sound  and  safe,  after  so  long  a  journey,  you 
had  reappeared  and  landed  at  Havre  de  Grace  where 
you  wished  to  go,  that  is  to  say  at  home.  All  the 
pleasure  which  a  friend  can  receive,  knowing  the  affairs 
of  another  self,  joined  to  such  a  happy  result,  seized  my 
heart,  at  the  recital  of  such  agreeable  news:  and  I  did 
not  fail  shortly  after,  to  write  you  amply  all  which  had 
happened  to  me  since  I  left  you  until  my  return  to 
France :  congratulating  you  at  having  escaped  from  ma- 
rine abysses  and  perilous  passages  on  land,  on  which 
travellers  are  often  constrained  to  risk  their  life.  From 
this  time,  I  have  always  stayed  in  Paris  or  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  dame  for- 
tune, who  ruled  me  in  her  wise  and  fed  me  with  her 
dishes  the  most  common  and  ordinary  until  the  first  day 
of  January  of  the  year  1584,  when  I  received  my  first 
gift  in  the  shape  of  a  strong  and  violent  disease,  which 
tormented  me  more  than  a  month :  from  which,  having 
become  cured  with  the  help  of  God,  and  having  with 
time  recovered  my  health  and  my  strength  at  the  ar- 
rival of  spring,  I  was  seized  with  the  desire  to  smell  the 
air  of  the  country.  And  in  fact  having  thrown  away 
my  pen  and  travelled  about  (battu  I'estrade)  through 
high  and  low  Burgundy,  I  stopped  at  Bezenson,  Impe- 
rial City,  to  spend  the  summer.  This  city  is  still  to  day 


LIST  OF  GLACI£RES.  195 

just  the  same  as  Julius  Csesar  describes  it,  in  the  notable 
mention  he  makes  of  it,  in  the  first  book  of  his  com- 
mentaries of  the  war  in  Gaul,  there  remaining  there  all 
the  vestiges  of  the  most  remarkable  things,  which  he 
tells  of  in  his  description.  There  are  also  very  fine 
fountains,  from  all  of  which  water  streams  from  the  repre- 
sentation of  some  god  of  antiquity,  as  a  Neptune,  a  Bac- 
chus, a  Pan,  a  Nereide  or  others :  except  before  the  state 
house,  where  the  statue  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  representing 
him  in  a  most  natural  manner,  is  placed  on  an  eagle, 
which  from  its  beak,  pours  out  such  a  great  quantity  of 
water  that  this  is  the  most  beautiful,  among  all  the  other 
fountains.  And  as  I  do  not  doubt  that  while  traversing 
Italy,  you  both  saw  and  examined  with  curiosity  the  most 
handsome  singularities,  which  presented  themselves  to 
your  eyes  and  that  on  your  return,  passing  through 
Avignon  and  Dauphine,  as  your  brother  informed  me, 
you  had  the  advantage  over  me  of  seeing  the  wonders  of 
the  country,  of  which  you  had  heard  me  speak  sometimes, 
regretting  that  the  war,  during  the  time  I  was  in  that 
quarter,  had  prevented  my  going  to  the  spot,  to  see  the 
burning  fountain  as  in  Dodone,  and  the  fountain  called 
Jupiter,  which  torches  of  fire  light  up  and  which  grows 
less  till  midday  and  then  grows  till  midnight,  and  then  di- 
minishes and  fails  at  midday :  and  another  in  Epirus  which 
we  call  to  day  Albania,  the  tower  without  venom  and  the 
inaccessible  mountain :  then  as  I  said,  since  you  have 
contemplated  these  things  and  several  others  not  less 
admirable,  I  wish  to  entertain  you  about  a  marvel  which 


196          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

I  saw,  during  my  sojourn  in  Bezenson,  to  know  from  you, 
whether  in  all  your  journey,  you  saw  a  similar  thing. 
Know  then  that  the  day  of  the  festival  of  St.  John  Bap- 
tist, a  young  man,  provided  with  an  honest  knowledge, 
with  whom  I  had  made  some  little  acquaintance,  pre- 
sented me  with  an  icicle,  to  cool  my  wine  at  dinner,  and 
which  I  admired  greatly,  on  account  of  the  time  of  the 
year  in  which  we  then  were,  begging  him  who  gave  it 
to  me  to  tell  me  where  he  had  discovered  this  rare  pres- 
ent for  that  time.  He  answered  me  that  every  year,  the 
day  of  the  solemnity  of  the  festival  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
the  inhabitants  of  a  village,  which  he  named,  were  bound 
to  come  to  offer  the  great  church  of  St.  John  of  Bezen- 
son, a  goodly  quantity  of  ice,  which  they  got  in  a  wood, 
and  brought  to  town  at  night  on  horses,  for  fear  that  by 
day  it  should  melt,  and  that  one  of  his  cronies  had  given 
to  him  what  he  had  given  to  me. 

"  Suddenly  there  flamed  up  in  me  a  desire  to  see  this 
place,  where  in  the  height  of  the  summer,  ice  was  to  be 
found.  When  he  who  had  presented  me  with  the  icicle 
saw  this,  he  promised  to  accompany  me,  not  having  as  yet, 
any  more  than  myself,  seen  this  marvel.  I  did  not  hatch 
very  long  this  decision,  all  the  more  as  all  those,  to  whom 
I  mentioned  it,  encouraged  me  to  carry  it  out  as  soon  as  I 
could,  assuring  me  that  I  should  see  a  strange  thing,  and 
that  even  the  Duke  of  Alva  on  his  return  from  Flanders, 
passing  through  Franche  Comte,  had  wished  to  see  this 
novelty.  Therefore  calling  on  the  promise  of  the  one 
who  was  the  cause  of  undertaking  this  journey,  we  went 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  1 97 

together  to  Versey,  a  fine  town,  distant  five  leagues  from 
Bezenson,  turning  a  little  off  our  direct  route,  to  go  to 
see  a  literary  man,  at  this  said  Versey,  who  having  called 
on  me  at  Bezenson,  had  extracted  from  me  the  promise  of 
going  to  see  him.  There  happened  to  me  in  this  spot, 
what  the  poet  du  Bellay  says  happened  to  him,  on  his 
return  from  Italy,  passing  through  the  Grisons,  to  go  into 
France :  who,  after  having  chanted  the  troubles  there  are 
in  the  passage,  says  that  the  Swiss  made  him  drink  so 
much,  that  he  does  not  remember  anything  he  saw  in  that 
country.  Likewise,  I  can  assure  you  that  my  host,  follow- 
ing the  custom  of  those  of  the  country  (who  do  not  think 
they  are  treating  a  man  properly  if  they  do  not  make  him 
drink  a  lot,  taking  that  from  the  Germans,  their  neighbors) 
made  us  carouse  so  well,  that  when  we  went  to  bed,  we 
were  very  gay  boys.  For  although  we  had  both  made  an 
agreement  on  the  road,  yet  our  host  knew  so  well  how  to 
win  us  over,  saying  that  those  who  would  not  drink,  gave 
reason  to  think  badly  of  them,  and  that  they  had  com- 
mitted, or  wished  to  commit  some  great  crime,  which  they 
feared  to  give  away  in  drinking,  that  in  the  end  we  let 
ourselves  go,  passing  the  time  in  Pantagruelic  fashion. 
The  next  morning  having  taken  some  "hair  from  the 
beast "  and  a  guide  which  our  host  gave  to  us  to  conduct 
us  to  the  Froidiere — we  continued  our  wanderings,  and 
arrived  at  a  little  village  called  Chaud,  joining  a  large 
wood,  where  our  guide  told  us,  that  although  he  had  been 
more  than  six  times  to  the  Froidiere,  yet  the  road  was  so 
tortuous  and  so  cut  up  by  small  paths,  that  if  we  did  not 


198  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

take  a  man  from  this  village,  to  be  more  sure,  we  might 
spend  more  than  half  a  day  in  the  wood,  before  finding 
what  we  were  seeking.  Getting  off  our  horses  now,  we 
added  to  our  company  a  native  of  the  place,  who  having 
led  us  by  crooked  roads,  about  a  quarter  of  a  league, 
through  the  forest,  made  us  enter  into  a  close  thicket  and 
by  a  little  path  led  us  to  a  pleasant  meadow ;  where, 
looking  down,  we  saw  a  hole,  of  difficult  descent,  at  the 
bottom  of  which  was  the  opening  of  a  grotto,  pretty  big, 
and  so  awful  and  terrifying  to  see,  that  one  would  have 
said,  it  was  the  mouth  of  Hell.  And  in  truth,  I  remembered 
then,  the  hole  of  St.  Patrick,  which  is  said  to  be  in 
Hibernia.  We  were  not  brave  enough  knights,  to  try  the 
adventure,  my  companion  and  I,  if  our  guides  had  not 
taken  the  lead.  After  whom  we  descended  as  magnani- 
mously as  the  Trojan  Duke  followed  the  Sybil  to  the 
Plutonic  realms,  the  sword  half  drawn  from  the  scabbard, 
and  well  determined  to  make  test  of  the  Platonic  doctrine, 
which  teaches  that  demons  can  be  dissected,  in  case  any 
shade  or  spook  should  have  come  to  meet  us.  About  the 
middle  of  the  way,  we  began  to  feel  in  descending  a  very 
agreeable  freshness ;  for  it  was  the  second  day  of  July  and 
the  sun  shone  very  warmly,  which  made  us  sweat  drop  by 
drop.  But  we  had  good  opportunity  to  refresh  ourselves 
and  put  ourselves  to  cool,  having  reached  the  grotto  which 
we  found  of  the  length  and  breadth  of  a  large  hall,  all 
paved  with  ice  in  the  bottom,  and  where  a  crystalline  water, 
colder  than  that  of  the  mountains  of  Arcadia  Nonacris, 
streamed  from  many  small  brooklets,  which  formed  very 


LIST   OF   GLAClfeRES.  199 

clear  fountains,  with  the  water  of  which  I  washed  myself 
and  drank  so  eagerly,  that  I  had  wished  the  thirst  of  Tan- 
talus, or  else  that  I  had  been  bitten  by  a  Dipsas,  in  order 
to  be  always  thirsty,  amid  such  a  pleasant  beverage.  A 
great  lord,  who  in  some  pleasure  resort,  should  have  such 
a  refrigerator  in  summer,  could  boast  according  to  my 
judgment,  to  be  better  provided  with  drink,  than  the  kings 
of  Persia  were  with  their  river  Coaspis,  which  engulphs 
itself  into  the  Tigris,  the  water  whereof  was  so  sweet,  that 
the  use  of  it  was  allowed  only  to  the  great  King,  for  the 
retinue  and  cronies  of  his  household.  Do  not  think,  that 
among  these  delights,  I  was  at  all  free  from  fear,  for  never 
did  I  raise  my  eyes  above  that  from  terror  my  whole  body 
shivered  and  the  hair  stood  up  on  my  head,  seeing  the 
whole  roof  of  the  grotto,  covered  with  big  massive  icicles, 
the  least  of  which,  falling  on  me,  had  been  sufficient  to 
scramble  up  my  brains  and  knock  me  to  pieces ;  so  much 
so  that  I  was  like  to  that  criminal,  whom  they  say  is 
punished  in  Hell,  by  the  continual  fear  of  a  big  stone, 
which  seems  as  though  it  must  suddenly  fall  on  his  ears. 
There  are  besides  the  large  hall  of  the  grotto,  some  rather 
roomy  corners,  where  the  gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood, 
put  their  venison  to  cool  in  summer,  and  we  saw  the' 
hooks,  where  they  hang  the  wild  fowl.  It  is  true,  that 
when  we  were  there,  we  saw  neither  game  nor  wild  fowl, 
and  I  think,  that  if  we  had  found  any  of  it,  we  were  men 
to  carry  off  some  of  it.  We  walked  around  for  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  in  this  Froidiere  and  we  should  have 
staid  there  longer  if  the  cold  had  not  driven  us  out;  which 


2OO         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

struck  in  to  our  backs,  even  to  make  our  teeth  crack ;  we 
reascended  the  slope,  not  forgetting,  all  of  us  as  many  as 
we  were,  to  provide  and  load  ourselves  with  ice,  which 
served  us  at  lunch  in  the  little  village  mentioned  above  to 
drink  most  delightfully,  assuring  you  that  it  is  impossible 
to  drink  more  freshly  than  we  drank  then.  I  thought  of 
those  old  voluptuaries,  who  cooled  their  wine  with  snow, 
and  it  seemed  to  me,  as  though  they  might  have  had  it 
much  cheaper  if  in  their  time  there  had  been  many  such 
Froidieres,  to  refresh  it  with  ice,  instead  of  with  snow, 
as  some  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Froidiere  and  some  of  the  most  notable  persons  of  the 
neighborhood  of  Bezenson  do ;  who  by  night,  have  a 
good  supply  brought  on  horses,  which  they  keep  in  their 
caves,  and  use  at  their  meals  and  banquets.  Turning 
back  towards  the  Imperial  city  of  Bezenson,  I  carried  for 
about  two  great  leagues,  a  rather  large  icicle  in  my  hands, 
which  little  by  little  melted  and  was  a  pleasant  and  agree- 
able cooler,  on  account  of  the  great  heat  of  the  weather. 
After  having  thought  over  in  my  mind,  the  cause  of  this 
antiperistase,  I  could  find  none  other  but  this :  to  wit,  that 
as  heat  domineers  in  summer,  the  cold  retires  to  places 
low  and  subterranean,  such  as  is  this  one,  to  which  the  rays 
of  the  sun  cannot  approach,  and  that  in  such  an  aquatic 
and  humid  place,  it  operates  the  results,  which  we  have 
shown  above.  Which  seemed  to  me  so  much  more  likely, 
that  on  asking  the  peasants  of  the  neighboring  village,  if 
in  winter  there  was  ice  in  this  Froidiere,  they  answered  me 
that  there  was  none,  and  that. on  the  contrary,  it  was  very 


LIST   OF    GLAClfeRES.  2OI 

warm  there.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause,  whether  this  or 
another,  I  can  assure  you,  that  I  admired  this  singularity 
as  much  as  any  I  have  seen,  since  a  large  church,  cut  into 
a  rock  which  I  had  seen  a  few  years  previously,  in  a  little 
town  of  Gascony  called  St.  Milion,  distant  seven  leagues 
from  Bordeaux ;  on  the  steeple  of  which  is  the  cemetery, 
where  they  bury  the  dead ;  a  thing  to  be  marvelled  at  by 
him  who  has  not  seen  it. 

"  I  have  made  trial,  to  enrich  this  missive,  with  all 
the  artifice  which  has  come  into  my  head,  using  the  leis- 
ure, which  the  present  time  brings  me :  as  the  temple  of 
Janus  is  open,  the  air  beyond  breathing  nothing  but  war: 
which  forces  me,  against  my  wish,  to  sojourn  in  this  place 
longer  than  I  had  intended.  If  these  troubles  settle 
down,  and  if  after  the  rain,  God  sends  us  fine  weather  as 
requires  the  calamitous  state  in  which  is  now  the  flat 
country,  I  shall  return  to  my  Parnassus ;  from  which  if 
I  go  out  hereafter,  believe  that  it  will  be  very  much  in 
spite  of  myself,  or  that  my  will  will  have  very  much 
changed.  You  will  be  able  to  let  me  hear  from  you  there, 
and  take  your  revenge  for  the  prolixity  of  this  letter,  by 
sending  me  one  still  longer,  which  you  will  write  to  me 
with  more  pleasure,  as  I  shall  take  much  in  reading  it. 
However  as  it  is  becoming  time  to  sound  taps,  I  will  pray 
the  sovereign  creator  for  my  affectionate  recommendations 
to  your  graces. 

"Sir,  and  best  friend,  may  you  keep  in  health  and  have 
a  long  and  happy  life.  From  Sens  this  2Oth  of  June  1585. 

"Your  obedient  friend      BENIGNE  POISSENOT. 


2O2          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

"  End  of  the  description  of  the  marvel,  called  the 
Froidiere" 

The   next    notice   about    the    Glaciere    de    Chaux-les- 
Passavant  is  by  Gollut  in   1592,  as  follows: — 

"ices in  «\  do  not  wish  however  to  omit  (since  I  am 

summer."      .  .  . 

in  these  waters)  to  bring  to  mind  the  commod- 
ity, which  nature  has  given  to  some  dainty  men,  since 
at  the  bottom  of  a  mountain  of  Leugne  ice  is  found  in 
summer,  for  the  pleasure  of  those  who  wish  to  drink 
cool.  Nevertheless  at  this  time,  this  is  disappearing,  for 
no  other  reason  (as  I  think)  except,  that  they  have  de- 
spoiled the  top  of  the  mountain,  of  a  thick  and  high  mass 
of  woods,  which  did  not  permit  that  the  rays  of  the  sun 
came  to  warm  the  earth,  and  dry  up  the  distillations, 
which  slipped  down  to  the  lowest  and  coldest  part  of  the 
mountain  where  (by  antiperistase)  the  cold  got  thicker, 
and  contracted  itself  against  the  heats  surrounding  and 
in  the  neighborhood  during  the  whole  summer,  all  the 
external  circumference  of  the  mountain." 

The  ice  at  Chaux-les-Passavant  is  said  to  have  been 
entirely  cleared  out,  by  the  Due  de  Levi,  in  1727,  for  the 
use  of  the  Army  of  the  Saone.  In  1743,  when  de  Cos- 
signy  visited  the  cave,  the  ice  was  formed  again.  There 
are  no  reports  about  the  intervening  time  between  1727 
and  1743.  The  ice  probably  all  re-formed  the  winter  after 
it  was  taken  away. 

Captain  Trouillet  in  1885  writes  of  Chaux-les-Passa- 
vant: "The  following  winter  had  shown  itself  unfavor- 


LIST    OF    GLAClfeRES.  20$ 

able  to  the  production  of  ice,  the  periods  of  humidity 
preceding  too  long  ahead  the  periods  of  frost.  Finally 
last  summer,  coming  after  a  wet  spring,  was  exceptionally 
warm.  Such  were  the  circumstances  which  brought  about 
in  the  glaciere  the  ruin  which  could  be  seen  at  the  end  of 
last  October.  *  *  *  On  the  nth  of  November,  the  first 
effects  of  frost  are  felt  and  the  temperature  falls  in  the 
glaciere  to  — 2°  :  outside  the  thermometer  drops  to  — 3°. 
On  the  morning  of  the  1 2th,  same  result,  and  ice  makes 
its  appearance  in  the  grotto,  as  the  report  of  the  ob- 
server shows :  but  the  quantity  produced  is  so  small  that 
the  internal  thermometer  soon  goes  above  o°.  It  is  only 
on  the  9th  of  December  that  the  frost  wins  definitely ;  on 
the  nth,  i2th  and  i3th  the  chill  is  intense  and  reaches 
— 19°  outside,  stopping  at  — 1 5°  in  the  glaciere.  The  water 
coming  from  the  rains  between  the  5th  and  the  9th  drip 
at  this  time  through  the  roof  and  the  big  side  crevasse : 
circumstances  grow  favorable  and  the  ice  accumulates. 
From  the  i/th,  the  entrance  slope  becomes  almost  im- 
practicable ;  the  icicles  grow  on  the  roof,  as  big  as  the 
body  of  a  man.  *  *  *  From  this  time  to  the  end  of 
December,  the  ice  sheet  does  not  increase,  for  water  only 
arrives  by  the  rare  drip  of  the  roof,  and  only  the  stalac- 
tites increase  slowly.  Outside,  however,  the  cold  con- 
tinues vigorously,  the  thermometer  on  the  3ist  of  Decem- 
ber dropping  to  — 15°  and  to  — 13°  in  the  glaciere.  If  the 
production  of  the  ice  stops,  it  is  not  the  cold  which  is 
wanting,  but  the  other  element,  the  one  which  as  our 
former  study  showed,  is  the  most  rarely  exact  at  the 


2O4         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

meeting.  The  winter  is  only  favorable  on  condition  that 
it  offers  alternating  periods  of  freezing  and  thawing;  so 
the  observer  writes  in  his  report :  '  it  is  the  water  which 
is  wanting,  otherwise  the  glaciere  would  be  magnificent.'  ' 

Trouillet  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of  winter  observations 
in  the  following  words :  "  Mons.  Briot,  the  present  lessor  of 
the  glaciere,  has  the  unpaid  mission  of  going  every  week 
to  the  bottom  of  the  grotto  to  get  and  put  in  place  the 
interior  thermometer.  It  is  a  really  hard  piece  of  work 
at  this  time  of  the  year:  each  journey  takes  about  one 
hour.  Besides  the  chance  that  a  visitor  has  of  receiving 
on  his  head  one  of  those  magnificent  stalactites  i  meter  or 
2  meters  long  which  fall  continually  from  the  roof,  it  is 
perfectly  disagreeable  to  him  to  arrive  at  the  base  of  the 
slope  otherwise  than  on  the  sole  of  his  boots,  and  to  face 
thus  the  frequent  and  painful  meeting  with  rocks  whose 
angular  edges  dot  the  surface  of  the  descent,  smooth  as 
a  mirror  set  at  an  angle  of  30°." 

Trouillet  and  Girardot  obtained  a  series  of  observa- 
tions with  maxima  and  minima  thermometers  at  Chaux- 
les-Passavant  during  the  winter  of  1885—1886.  At  the 
end  of  November  the  temperature  inside  was  -f  2°.  On 
the  2d  of  December  it  rose  to  +2.5°.  On  the  loth  of 
December,  it  sank  to  —  i°,  and  after  this  date,  it  re- 
mained below  freezing  point  all  winter.  The  observa- 
tions were  not  continuous,  but  they  showed  that  every 
time  the  temperature  outside  dropped  considerably,  the 
temperature  inside  immediately  did  likewise.  For  in- 
stance, on  the  1 2th  of  January,  the  outside  air  dropped 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  2  05 

to  —  1 8°,  and  the  inside  air  responded  by  falling  to 
— 15°.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  temperature  out- 
side rose  above  freezing  point,  the  temperature  inside 
remained  stationary  or  fluctuated  only  gently.  For  in- 
stance, from  the  24th  of  March  to  the  8th  of  April,  the 
outside  air  went  up  and  down  perpetually,  the  extremes 
being  —  2°  and  -f-  16° ;  while  in  the  same  time  the  inside 
air  rose  continuously  from  — 2°  to  — 0.5°. 

WlNDHOLES     AND     ICE     FORMATIONS     NEAR     GfiRARDMER, 

VOSGES.  (Rozet,  in  Encyclopedic  Moderne,  Didot  Freres, 
Paris,  1853,  vol.  XVI.,  page  503.) 

L'ABIME  DU  CREUX-PERCE  OR  GLACIERE  DE  PASQUES. 
(Martel,  Les  Abimes,  1894,  Page  3945  Annuaire  du  Club 
Alpin  Fran^ais,  vol.  XIX.,  page  38.) — On  the  plateau  of 
Langres,  Cote  d'Or.  It  lies  15  kilometers  from  Dijon? 
and  is  really  a  limestone  rock  gorge,  of  55  meters  in 
depth,  which  at  the  top  is  40  meters  long  and  20  meters 
wide,  and  at  the  bottom  1515  meters  long  and  1 2  meters 
wide.  In  March  1892,  Mons.  Martel  found  the  north  side 
covered  with  large  icicles  1 5  meters  long.  The  ice  seems 
to  remain  throughout  the  year.  The  bottom  of  the  Abime 
has  been  reached  only  by  means  of  two  long  rope  ladders. 

CREUX  DE  CHEVROCHE  OR  ROCHE  CHEVRE,  COTE  D'OR. 
(Clement  Drioton,  Memoir es  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie, 
1897,  v°l-  !•>  Page  2°9-)  — "  In  tne  woods  of  Mavilly, 
near  Bligny-sur-Ouches,  is  a  little  cave,  called  Creux  de 


2O6          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Chevroche  or  Roche-Chevre,  where  one  can  find  ice  until 
the  month  of  July." 

FREEZING  WELL  OF  MAROLLES,  AT  LA  FERTE-MILON, 
AISNE.  (Martel,  Les  Abimes,  page  563,  note  2.) — This 
well  is  8.15  meters  deep ;  the  altitude  is  70  meters. 
During  the  winter  of  1892-93  the  water  in  it  froze  for  a 
thickness  of  15  centimeters.  The  minimum  outside  tem- 
perature that  year  was  —  17°. 

WlNDHOLES  NEAR  PoNTGIBAUD,  PuY  DE  DOME.      (G.  PoU- 

lett-Scrope,  The  Geology  and  Extinct  Volcanoes  of  Central 
France,  1858,  page  60.) — These  windholes  are  in  basalt. 
There  are  many  cracks,  whence  cold  air  currents  issue, 
and  where  ice  has  been  found,  sometimes  in  summer. 
There  are  cold  storage  huts  over  some  of  the  cracks. 

LE  CREUX-DE-SOUCI,  PUY  DE  DOME.  (Martel,  Les 
Abimes,  1894,  page  387.) — This  is  situated  5  kilometers 
southeast  of  Besse-en-Chandesse.  It  is  a  large  lava  cav- 
ern with  the  entrance  directly  in  the  middle  of  the  roof. 
The  bottom  is  partly  filled  by  a  lake.  The  depth  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground  to  the  lake  is  33  meters ;  from  the 
smallest  part  of  the  opening  to  the  lake  the  depth  is 
21.50  meters.  Down  this  last  portion  one  can  descend 
only  by  means  of  a  rope  ladder.  The  temperature  is 
extremely  low ;  in  general  near  freezing  point.  In  June, 
July,  August  and  November  1892,  Monsieur  Berthoule, 
maire  of  Besse,  did  not  find  any  snow.  On  the  loth  of 
August,  1893,  on  tne  contrary,  he  found  at  the  bottom  a 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  207 

heap  of  snow,  which  he  thinks  was  formed  in  the  cave 
itself,  by  the  freezing  during  their  descent  of  the  drops 
of  water  which  are  constantly  dripping  from  the  roof. 
He  reports  landing  on  une  montagne  de  neige,  de  neige 
blanche.  On  several  visits,  Mons.  Berthoule  noticed  car- 
bonic acid  gas  in  dangerous  quantities.  There  was  none 
at  the  time  he  observed  the  snow  heap,  but  ten  days  later 
he  found  it  impossible  to  descend  into  the  cave  as  the 
carbonic  acid  gas  came  up  in  puffs  to  the  entrance.  In 
the  lake,  Mons.  Berthoule  discovered  a  variety  of  Rotifer, 
Notholca  longispina,  and  also  several  algae  and  diatoms. 
The  Asterionella  formosa  is  the  most  remarkable  from  its 
abundance :  it  exists  in  some  of  the  lakes  of  the  Alps, 
but  not  in  those  of  the  Pyrenees. 

AVEN  DE  Lou  CERVI,  VAUCLUSE.  (Martel,  Les  Abimes, 
page  563.) — This  is  a  cold  cave.  It  belongs  to  the  class 
which  Mons.  Martel  calls  avens  a  retrecissement,  or  abimes  a 
double  orifice.  In  September,  1892,  Mons.  Martel  noted  a 
temperature  of  6.5°  at  53  meters  ;  of  6.8°  at  64  meters. 
Mean  temperature  of  locality,  8.75°. 

IGUE  DE  BIAU,  LOT.     (Martel,  Les  Abimes,  page  304.) — 
Cold  cave.     Temperature  on  i3th  July,  1891  :  5°. 

FOSSE  MOBILE,  CHARENTE.  (Martel,  Les  Abimes,  page 
380.) — Cold  cave.  Temperature  on  nth  April,  1893:  7°. 

AVEN  DE  DEIDOU,  CAUSSE  MEJEAN.  (Martel,  Les 
Abimes,  page  223.) — Cold  cave.  Temperatures  on  i4th 
October,  1892:  outside  air,  4°;  at  bottom,  6.5°. 


2O8         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

AVEN  DES  OULES,  CAussE  MfejEAN.  (Martel,  Les 
Abimes,  page  227.) — Cold  cave.  Temperatures  on  2ist 
October,  1892:  outside  air,  2.5°;  at  bottom,  4°. 

WINDHOLE  COLD  CAVES  NEAR  ROQUEFORT,  AVEYRON. — 
They  lie  13  kilometers  from  Millau,  at  an  altitude  of  about 
600  meters,  and  are  utilized  in  the  manufacture  of  Roque- 
fort cheese. 

AVEN  DE  CARLET,  NEAR  LA  ROCHE  GIRON,  BASSES  ALPES. 
(Martel,  Les  Abimes,  page  53.) — Lumps  of  ice  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  taken  from  it. 

LA  POUJADE,  CEVENNES.  (Martel,  Les  Abimes,  pages 
212-215.) — An  intermittent  spring  in  limestone  rock.  At 
the  bottom  of  the  first  gallery,  on  the  i8th  of  September, 
1892,  the  temperature  of  the  air  was  12.3°,  and  that  of 
a  pool  of  water  supplied  by  drip  11.5°.  Mons.  Martel 
thought  that  the  drip  brought  to  the  pool  the  mean  annual 
temperature  of  the  ground  through  which  it  had  come. 
A  little  further  within  and  5  meters  lower,  the  temperature 
of  the  air  was  7.3°  and  that  of  another  pool  of  water  6.8°. 
This  pool  was  not  supplied  by  drip  and  must  have  been 
left  over  by  the  last  flow  of  the  spring.  Mons.  Martel 
thought  that  the  lower  temperatures  at  this  spot  were 
due  to  the  cold  air  of  winter  dropping  to  the  bottom  of 
the  cave  and  on  account  of  its  density  not  being  able 
to  get  out. 

SNOW  PRESERVED  IN  CHASMS  IN  THE  ITALIAN  MOUNTAINS. 
(The  Penny  Magazine,  London,  August,  1834,  page 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  2O9 

335.) — Mr.  Bunford  Samuel  called  my  attention  to  an  arti- 
cle in  which  the  Southern  Italians  are  said  to  dig  wells  or 
cellars  on  the  mountain  sides,  and  to  throw  snow  into  them 
in  winter.  The  snow  is  well  pressed  together  and  straw, 
dried  leaves,  etc.,  is  thrown  on  top.  By  having  a  northern 
exposure  for  these  pits,  and  seeing  that  they  are  in  thick 
forest,  or  in  rifts  where  the  sun  does  not  penetrate,  these 
depots  may  be  safely  placed  as  low  down  the  mountain  as 
the  snow  falls  and  lies.  Naples  is  largely  supplied  [1834] 
with  snow  in  summer  from  such  snow  wells  situated  on 
Monte  Angelo,  the  loftiest  point  of  the  promontory  sep- 
arating the  Bay  of  Naples  from  the  Bay  of  Salerno. 

COLD  CAVES  OF  SAN  MARINO,  APENNINES.  (De  Saus- 
sure,  Voyages  dans  les  Alpes,  1796,  III.,  page  211.) — These 
are  probably  windholes. 

LA  BOCCHE  DEI  VENTI  DI  CESI.  (De  Saussure,  Voy- 
ages dans  les  Alpes,  1796,  III.,  page  211.) — These  wind- 
holes  were  in  the  cellar  of  the  house  of  Don  Giuseppe 
Cesi,  in  the  town  of  Cesi.  The  cellar  acted  as  a  natural 
refrigerator.  The  air  stream  was  so  strong,  that  it  nearly 
blew  out  the  torches.  In  winter  the  wind  rushed  into  the 
holes.  De  Saussure  was  shown  the  following  Latin  verses 
by  the  owner : — 

' '  Abditus  hie  ludit  vario  discrimine  ventus 
Et  faciles  miros  exhibet  aura  jocos. 
Nam  si  bruma  riget,  quaecumque  objeceris  haurit. 
Evomit  aestivo  cum  calet  igne  dies," 


2io       GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

WlNDHOLES     OR    "  VENTAROLE "    ON     MONTE    TfiSTACEO, 

NEAR  ROME.  (De  Saussure,  Voyages  dans  les  Alpes, 
1796,  III.,  page  209.) — There  are  a  number  here  among 
heaps  of  broken  pottery.  The  temperatures  seem  ab- 
normally low. 

KRYPTA  SORANA.  (Kircher,  Mundus  Subterraneus,  1664, 
page  118  and  page  239.) — This  has  been  spoken  of  as  a 
glaciere  cave,  but  as  there  is  much  doubt  in  the  matter, 
I  quote  the  passages,  on  which  the  reports  are  based,  in 
the  original  Latin :  "  Cryptae  sunt  naturales,  quarum  in- 
numerae  sunt  species,  juxta  vires  naturales  iis  inditas. 
Sunt  nonnullae  medicinali  virtute  praeditae,  quaedam 
metallicis  vaporibus,  exhalationibus,  aquis  scatent,  sunt 
et  glaciales,  plenae  nivibus  et  crystallo,  uti  in  Monte 
Sorano  me  vidisse  memini."  And  further :  "  Vidi  ego  in 
Monte  Sorano  cryptam  veluti  glacie  incrustatam,  ingenti- 
bus  in  fornice  hinc  inde  stiriis  dependentibus,  e  quibus 
vicini  mentis  accolae  pocula  aestivo  tempore  conficiunt, 
aquae  vinoque,  quae  iis  infunduntur,  refrigerandis  aptis- 
sima,  extreme  rigore  in  summas  bibentium  delicias  com- 
mutato." 

SUBTERRANEAN  ICE  SHEET,  MOUNT  ETNA,  SICILY. 
(Lyell,  Principles  of  Geology,  nth  Edition,  chapter 
XXVI.) — This  ice  sheet  is  near  the  Casa  Inglese.  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  ascertained  the  fact  of  its  existence  in  1828, 
and  in  1858  he  found  the  same  mass  of  ice,  of  unknown 
extent  and  thickness,  still  unmelted.  In  the  beginning  of 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  211 

the  winter  of  1828,  Lyell  found  the  crevices  in  the  interior 
of  the  summit  of  the  highest  cone  of  Etna  encrusted  with 
thick  ice,  and  in  some  cases  hot  vapors  actually  stream- 
ing out  between  masses  of  ice  and  the  rugged  and  steep 
walls  of  the  crater.  Lyell  accounts  for  this  ice  sheet  by 
the  explanation  that  there  must  have  been  a  great  snow 
bank  in  existence  at  the  time  of  an  eruption  of  the  vol- 
cano. This  deep  mass  of  snow  must  have  been  covered 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eruption  by  volcanic  sand  show- 
ered on  it,  followed  by  a  stream  of  lava.  The  sand  is  a 
bad  conductor  of  heat  and  together  with  the  solidified 
lava,  preserved  the  snow  from  liquefaction. 

GLACIERE  ON  THE  MONCODINE.  (Fugger,  Eiskohlen, 
page  13.) — The  Moncodine  is  described  as  a  Dolomite 
near  the  Lago  di  Como.  The  cave  lies  up  the  Val  Sasina, 
two  hours  from  Cortenuova,  at  an  altitude  of  1675  meters. 
The  entrance  faces  north,  and  is  2.5  meters  high  and  1.5 
meters  wide.  The  average  diameter  of  the  cave  is  16 
meters.  The  floor  is  solid  ice,  which  has  been  sometimes 
cut  for  use  in  the  hotels  on  the  Lago  di  Como  and  even 
been  sent  to  Milan. 

LA  GHIACCIAIA  DEL  MONDOLE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  8.) — The  Mondole  is  a  mountain  2375  meters  high, 
near  Mondovi,  south  of  Turin.  The  cave  lies  on  the 
eastern  slope,  at  an  altitude  of  about  2000  meters.  It  is 
hard  to  get  at.  The  entrance  is  to  the  east,  and  is  2 
meters  wide  and  1.5  meters  high.  A  passageway  some 


212          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

25  meters  long  leads  to  a  large  chamber  where  there  is 
plenty  of  ice.  In  hot  summers  ice  is  brought  from  the 
cave  to  Mondovi.  Ghiacciaia  means  freezing  cavern  in 
Italian. 

LA  GHIACCIAIA  DEL  VAL  SEGURET.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
hoklen,  page  8.) — It  lies  near  Susa  at  the  base  of  chalk 
cliffs,  at  an  altitude  of  about  1500  meters.  The  cave  is 
said  to  be  about  40  meters  deep,  50  meters  wide  and  50 
meters  high.  Bonetti  in  May,  1874,  found  many  icicles 
and  ice  cones. 

LA  BORNA  DE  LA  GLACE.  (Chanoine  Carrel,  Biblio- 
theque  Universelle  de  Geneve,  1841,  vol.  XXXIV.,  page 
196.) — It  lies  in  the  Duchy  of  Aosta,  commune  of  La 
Salle,  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  hills  near  Chabauday, 
in  a  spot  called  Plan  Agex.  The  altitude  is  1602  meters. 
The  entrance  opens  to  the  east  and  is  60  centimeters  wide 
and  80  centimeters  high.  One  can  descend  for  4  meters. 
There  are  two  branches  in  the  rear  of  the  entrance. 
Chanoine  Carrel  found  an  ice  pillar  i  meter  high  in  the 
western  branch.  He  recorded  these  temperatures  on  the 
1 5th  of  July,  1841  :  Outside  -{-15°.  Entrance  +2.9°.  East 
branch  +0.9°.  West  branch  +0.5°. 

WlNDHOLES      IN      THE     ITALIAN     ALPS.         (Fugger,     ElS- 

hohlen,  pages  94-97.) — A  number  of  these  seem  to  have 
abnormally  low  temperatures.  Some  are  in  the  moun- 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  213 

tains  around  Chiavenna,  and  are  sometimes,  by  building 
small  huts  over  them,  utilized  as  refrigerators.  Some 
are  reported  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Lago  di  Como 
near  Dongo,  near  Menaggio,  and  in  the  villa  Pliniana 
near  Curino ;  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Lake  of  Lugano 
at  the  base  of  Monte  Caprino,  near  Melide,  near  Men- 
drisio  and  near  Sertellino ;  and  in  the  Val  Maggia  near 
Cevio. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  FONT  D'URLE,  OR  FONDURLE,  DAU- 
PHINE.  (Hericart  de  Thury,  Annales  des  Mines,  vol. 
XXXIII.,  page  157;  G.  F.  Browne,  Ice  Caves,  etc.,  page 
212  ;  E.  A.  Martel,  Memoir es  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie, 
vol.  I.,  page  37;  L.  Villard,  Spelunca,  1896,  vol.  II.,  page 
39.) — It  lies  on  the  Foire  de  Font  d'Urle,  16  kilometers 
north  of  Die,  48  kilometers  east  of  Valence,  and  80  kilo- 
meters south  of  Grenoble.  The  glaciere  consists  of  two 
large  pits,  lying  east  and  west,  and  with  underground 
communication.  From  this  tunnel  a  long  low  archway 
leads  to  a  broad  slope  of  chaotic  blocks  of  stone,  which 
is  60  meters  long  and  42  meters  in  greatest  width.  The 
ice  begins  half  way  down  this  slope,  fitfully  at  first  and 
afterwards  in  a  tolerably  continuous  sheet.  Thury  found 
many  icicles  hanging  from  the  roof.  Browne  found  four 
columns  of  ice,  of  which  the  largest  was  5.80  meters  across 
the  base.  On  his  visit,  in  the  middle  of  August,  the  ice 
was  strongly  thawing.  Both  explorers  noted  the  ex- 
tremely prismatic  character  of  the  ice.  Browne  found  a 
temperature  of  +0.5°.  Martel  gives  a  section  and  plan 


214  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

of  Font  d'Urle.  Mons.  Villard  says  about  this  cavern  : 
"  A  curious  thing :  I  found  in  this  cave,  motionless  on 
a  piece  of  rock,  entirely  surrounded  by  ice  for  a  distance 
of  several  meters,  a  blind  specimen  of  a  coleoptera, 
cytodromus  dapsoides" 

THE  CHOURUN  CLOT.  (E.  A.  Martel,  Sous  Terre* 
Annuaire  du  Club  Alpin  Francois,  vol.  XXIII.,  1896, 
pages  42,  43 ;  Memoir es  de  la  Societt  de  Speleologie, 
vol.  I.,  page  31.) — In  Dauphine,  halfway  between  Agnieres 
and  the  Pic  Costebelle,  at  an  altitude  of  1,740  meters. 
There  is  first  a  pit  18  meters  long,  4.50  meters  wide  and 
25  meters  deep.  In  the  bottom  of  this  is  a  vertical  hole 
15  meters  deep  and  from  i  meter  to  2  meters  in  diame- 
ter, in  which  there  was  much  ice  on  the  3ist  of  July,  1896. 
Then  the  pit  changes  to  a  sloping  gallery  which  terminates 
in  a  little  hall,  full  of  ice,  at  a  depth  of  70  meters.  Martel 
gives  a  cut  and  section  of  this  glaciere. 

THE  GLACIERE  DU  TROU  DE  GLAS.  (E.  A.  Martel,  La 
Geographic,  1900,  voL  I.,  page  52.) — In  the  range  of  the 
Grande  Chartreuse. 

THE  CHOURUN  MARTIN.  (E.  A.  Martel,  La  Geographic, 
1900,  vol.  I.,  page  53.) — In  the  range  of  the  Devoluy, 
Hautes-Alpes ;  altitude  1,580  meters.  An  extremely 
deep  pit,  which  on  July  3ist,  1899,  was  much  blocked 
up  with  snow. 


LIST  OF   GLACIERES.  215 

THE  CHOURUN  DE  LA  PARZA.  (E.  A.  Martel,  La 
Geographic,  1900,  vol.  I.,  page  54.) — In  the  range  of  the 
Devoluy,  Hautes-Alpes ;  altitude  1,725  meters.  A  fine 
pit,  25  meters  in  diameter,  and  74  meters  in  depth. 
Filled  with  snow  or  rather  neve,  in  which  are  deep  holes. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  L'HAUT-D'AVIERNOZ.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  2 .  (C.  Dunant,  Le  Parmelan  et  ses  Lapiaz,  page 
26;  Browne,  Ice  Caves,  etc.,  page  157.) — Mons.  Dunant  calls 
this  glaciere  1'Haut  d'Aviernoz  ;  Mr.  Browne  calls  it  the 
Glaciere  du  Grand  Anu.  By  a  plumb  line  held  from  the 
edge  of  the  larger  pit,  Browne  found  that  the  ice  floor  was 
about  35  meters  from  the  surface,  which  would  give  a  level 
for  the  ice  floor  closely  identical  to  the  one  I  found.  In 
July,  1864,  ne  recorded  a  temperature  of  +1.1°. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  L'ENFER.  (G.  F.  Browne,  Good 
Words,  November,  1866;  T.  G.  Bonney,  The  Alpine 
Regions,  1868,  pages  95,  96;  C.  Dunant,  Le  Parmelan 
et  ses  Lapiaz,  page  25.) — On  Mont  Parmelan.  A  pit  cave 
with  a  steep  slope  of  broken  rock  leading  to  a  rock  por- 
tal in  the  face  of  a  low  cliff.  This  opens  into  a  roughly 
circular  hall  about  22  meters  in  diameter  and  3  meters  to 
4  meters  in  height.  A  chink  between  the  rock  and  the 
ice  permitted  Mr.  Browne  to  scramble  down  three  or  four 
meters  to  where  a  tunnel  entered  the  ice  mass.  Throw- 
ing a  log  of  wood  down  this  tunnel,  a  crash  was  heard 
and  then  a  splash  of  water,  and  then  a  strange  gulping 
sound.  "The  tunnel  obviously  led  to  a  subglacial  reser- 


2l6          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

voir  and  this  was  probably  covered  by  a  thin  crust  of  ice  ; 
the  log  in  falling  had  broken  this  and  then  disturbed  the 
water  below,  which  then  commenced  bubbling  up  and 
down  through  the  hole,  and  making  a  gulping  noise,  just 
as  it  does  sometimes  when  oscillating  up  and  down  in  a 
pipe." 

Mons.  C.  Dunant  of  the  Club  Alpin  Fran$ais  describes 
a  visit  to  the  Glaciere  de  1'Enfer.  He  mentions  also  a 
legend  of  a  witch  from  a  neighboring  village  who  would 
get  the  ice  from  these  caves  and  bring  it  down  in  the 
shape  of  hail  on  the  crops  of  the  peasants  who  were  in- 
hospitable to  her. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  CHAPUIS.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  5. 
(Browne,-  Ice  Caves,  etc.,  page  182,  and  Good  Words  y 
November,  1866.) — Mr.  Browne  calls  it  the  Glaciere  de 
Chappet-Sur-Villaz.  Mr.  Browne  and  Professor  T.  G. 
Bonney  found  several  flies  in  the  Glaciere  de  Chapuis. 
Three  of  them  were  specimens  of  Stenophylax,  the  largest 
being  probably,  but  not  certainly,  6*.  hieroglyphicus  of  Ste- 
phens. Two  smaller  caddis  flies  were  either  S.  testaceus 
of  Pictet  or  some  closely  allied  species.  One  other  in- 
sect was  an  ichneumon  of  the  genus  Paniscus,  of  an 
unidentified  species.  It  differed  from  all  its  congeners 
in  the  marking  of  the  throat,  resembling  in  this  respect 
some  species  of  Ophion.  Mr.  Browne  thinks  that  the 
case  flies  may  have  been  washed  into  the  cave  somehow 
or  other  in  the  larva  form,  and  come  to  maturity  on  the 
ice  where  they  had  lodged.  But  this  explanation  will  not 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  217 

hold  in  the  case  of  the  ichneumon,  which  is  a  parasitic 
genus  on  larvae  of  terrestrial  insects. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  LE  BREZON.  (Pictet,  Bibliotheque 
Universelle  de  Geneve,  1822,  vol.  XX.,  page  270,  and  Thury, 
Bibliotheque  Universelle  de  Geneve,  1861,  vol.  X.,  pages  139 
and  152.) — It  lies  southeast  of  Bohneville  near  the  foot  of 
Mount  Lechaud,  at  an  altitude  of  1276  meters.  The  cave 
is  9.7  meters  long,  about  8  meters  wide  and  the  greatest 
height  is  about  4  meters.  The  entrance  is  small  and  is  at 
the  base  of  a  cliff,  in  some  places  of  which  cold  air  cur- 
rents issue.  The  ice  lies  on  the  floor.  Some  of  it  is 
probably  winter  snow. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  BRISONS. — Described  in  Part  I., 
page  i. 

THE  GRAND  CAVE  DE  MONTARQUIS.  Described  in  Part 
I.,  page  70.  (Thury,  Bibliotheque  Universelle  de  Geneve, 
vol.  X.,  pages  135-153.) — Professor  Thury  describes  two 
visits  to  this  cave.  On  the  i6th  of  August,  1859,  he  found 
no  ice  stalactites  or  stalagmites.  On  the  igth  of  January, 
1861,  he  did  not  find  a  single  drop  of  water  in  the  cave, 
but  many  stalactites  and  stalagmites  of  beautiful  clear  ice, 
one  of  which  resembled  porcelain  more  than  any  other 
substance.  In  August,  Thury  found  an  air  current  stream- 
ing into  the  cave  at  the  rear,  but  this  did  not,  however, 
disturb  the  air  of  the  interior,  for  in  one  part  it  was  in  per- 
fect equilibrium :  along  the  line  of  the  draughts  the  ice  was 
more  melted  than  elsewhere  in  the  cave.  In  January,  the 


2l8  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

current  was  reversed  and  poured  into  the  fissure,  with  the 
temperature  varying  between  — 1.5°  and  — 2.5°.  He  ob- 
served the  following  temperatures  at  the  Grand  Cave  : — 

TIME.  OUTSIDE.      INSIDE. 

1 6th  August,  1859 +8.6°       +2.5° 

I9th  January,  1861      1.25  P.  M.        +2.6°      — 4.° 

"        2.12       "  +  2.1°        —4.° 

"       "  "     3.50     "          — 1.1°     — 4.° 

THE  PETITE  CAVE  DE  MONTARQUIS.  Mentioned  in 
Part  I.,  page  71.  (Thury,  Bibliotheque  Universelle  de 
Geneve,  1861,  vol.  X.,  page  150.  Also  quotes  Morin.) — At 
the  end  of  a  crooked  fissure  10  meters  deep,  a  passage  6 
meters  long,  leads  into  a  cave  8  meters  high  and  5  meters 
in  diameter.  In  August,  1828,  Morin  found  an  ice  stalag- 
mite of  5  meters  in  height  in  the  middle  of  the  cave. 

CAVE  CONTAINING  ICE  ON  THE  SOUTHERN  SHORE  OF 
LAKE  GENEVA. — Reported ;  no  information. 

THE  GLACIERE  AND  NEIGIERE  D'ARC-Sous-CicoN. 
(Browne,  Ice  Caves,  etc.,  page  118.) — These  lie  close 
together  in  the  Jura  about  twenty  kilometers  from  Pon- 
tarlier.  The  little  glaciere  is  formed  by  a  number  of  fis- 
sures in  the  rock,  disconnected  slits  in  the  surface  open- 
ing into  larger  chambers  where  the  ice  lies.  The  neigiere 
is  a  deep  pit,  with  a  collection  of  snow  at  the  bottom, 
much  sheltered  by  overhanging  rocks  and  trees.  A  huge 
fallen  rock  covers  a  large  part  of  the  sloping  bottom  of 
the  pit,  which  forms  a  small  cave  in  the  shape  of  a  round 
soldier's  tent,  with  walls  of  rock  and  floor  of  ice. 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  2  IQ 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  LA  GENOLLIERE.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  48.  (Browne,  Ice  Caves,  etc.,  page  i.) — 
Mr.  Browne  observed  in  1864  a  temperature  of  -f  1.1°, 
and  two  days  later  of  +  0.8°.  He  also  found  a  number 
of  flies  running  rapidly  over  the  ice  and  stones.  He 
was  told  in  England,  from  the  specimen  he  brought 
away,  that  it  was  the  Stenophylax  hieroglyphicus  of  Ste- 
phens or  something  very  like  that  fly. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  SAINT-GEORGES.  Described  in 
Part  I.,  page  62.  (Thury,  Bibliotheque  Universelle  de 
Geneve,  1861,  vol.  X.) — Professor  Thury  obtained  the  fol- 
lowing temperatures  at  the  Glaciere  de  Saint-Georges : — 


OUTSIDE.  INSIDE. 

9th  January,  1858     .    .    -     7.36  P.  M., —4.5°         7.16  P.  M., —0.6° 


Minimum  of  night 
loth  January,  1858 


Minimum  of  night 
nth  January,  1858 


Minimum  of  night 


7.20  " 

—  1.2' 

7.27  '« 

—  2.5C 

7.50  » 

—  2.9' 

—  5.8° 

—4.9' 

10.53  A.  M., 

—  3-4° 

10.12  A.  M., 

—  4.6< 

11.14  " 

—  3-1° 

10.30  " 

—  4-5' 

11-45  " 

—  2.2° 

1  1.  20  " 

—  4-4' 

12.32  P.  M., 

-2-4° 

12.  14  P.  M., 

—  4-4' 

1.  12   " 

—  0.9° 

1.30  " 

—  4.2< 

3.03  " 

2.9° 

2.30  " 

—  4-1' 

3.56  " 

—  3-5° 

3-14  " 

—  4.0' 

4.26  " 

—  3-7° 

4.00  " 

—  3-8' 

—  7-6° 

—  6.8< 

9.  34  A.  M., 

—  5.6' 

6.20  P.  M., 

+  0.7° 

0.2' 

+  1.1° 

lo.oo  A.  M., 

+  4.0° 

9.00  A.  M., 

1.0' 

22O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Professor  Thury's  winter  excursions  caused  him  to 
accept  as  proved  that  part  of  the  mountaineers'  belief, 
which  holds  that  there  is  no  ice  formed  in  caves  in  winter. 
One  of  the  main  grounds  for  his  opinion  was  the  series  of 
observations  he  made  in  the  Glaciere  de  Saint-Georges. 
He  found  no  ice  forming  there  in  winter  and  the  natives 
said  it  did  not  because  the  cavern  was  not  cold  enough. 
So  he  placed  large  dishes  filled  with  water  in  the  cave  and 
found  that  they  froze  solid  during  the  night,  which  he  had 
been  assured  was  impossible.  Thury  also  found  violent 
movements  of  the  air  at  Saint-Georges  in  January,  1858. 
A  candle  burned  steadily  for  some  time,  but  at  7.16  P.  M. 
it  began  to  flicker  and  soon  inclined  downwards  through 
an  angle  of  about  45° ;  and  in  the  entrance,  the  flame 
assumed  an  almost  horizontal  position.  At  8  P.  M.,  the 
current  of  air  nearly  disappeared.  Thury  thought  that  this 
violent  and  temporary  disturbance  of  equilibrium  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  as  the  heavier  air  outside  tended  to  pass 
into  the  cave,  the  less  cold  air  within  tended  to  pass  out ; 
and  the  narrow  entrance  confining  the  struggle  to  a  small 
area,  the  weaker  current  was  able  for  a  while  to  hold  its 
own. 

THE  GLACIERE  DU  PRE  DE  SAINT-LIVRES.  Described 
in  Part  I.,  page  65.  (Browne,  Ice  Caves,  page  40.) — Mr. 
Browne  found,  in  1864,  a  temperature  of  o°. 

THE  PETITE  GLACIERE  DU  PRE  DE  SAINT-LIVRES. 
(Browne,  Ice  Caves,  page  46.) — This  is  near  the  last  cave 
at  a  slightly  higher  altitude.  There  is  first  a  small  pit, 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  221 

then  a  little  cave,  in  which  there  is  an  ice  slope.  This 
passes  under  a  low  arch  in  the  rock  wall,  and  leads  down 
into  another  small  cave.  Mr.  Browne  descended  this  ice 
stream,  which  was  itself  practically  a  fissure  column  and 
spread  into  the  fan  shape  at  the  base.  The  lower  cave 
was  22  meters  long  and  I'l  meters  wide,  and  contained  an 
ice  floor  and  several  fissure  columns. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  NAYE,  ABOVE  MONTREUX,  SWITZER- 
LAND. (E.  A.  Martel,  Les  Abimes,  page  397 ;  Spelunca, 
1895,  v°l-  !•»  Pages  IO7>  1 08;  Memoires  de  la  Societe  de 
Speleologie,  vol.  III.,  pages  246-254.) — This  is  called  a  gla- 
cier souterrain.  It  was  discovered  in  1893  by  Professor 
Dutoit.  There  are  fifty-four  caves  known  among  the 
Rochers  de  Naye,  and  only  this  one  contains  ice.  It  is  a 
long  narrow  cave  with  two  entrances  and  widest  towards 
the  base,  which  opens  over  a  precipice.  The  altitude  is 
high,  the  upper  entrance  being  at  an  altitude  of  1820 
meters,  and  the  lower  of  1750  meters.  The  place  is  both 
a  passage  cave  and  a  windhole.  The  snow  falls  into  the 
upper  entrance,  and  slides  down,  becoming  ice  in  the 
lower  portion.  There  are  other  connecting  passages  and 
hollows  where  the  cold  air  cannot  get  in,  and  there  ice 
does  not  form.  Mons.  Martel  thinks  that  the  ice  formed 
during  the  winter  is  preserved  by  the  draughts — due  to 
the  difference  in  level  of  the  two  openings — causing  an 
evaporation  and  chill  sufficient  for  the  purpose. 

THE  CREUX  BOURQUIN.  (E.  A.  Martel,  Les  Abimes, 
page  397.) — At  Mauberget,  near  Grandson.  This  is  a 


222  GLACIERES   OR    FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

rock  gorge  25  meters  deep.  At  the  bottom,  on  the  9th 
of  July,  1893,  was  a  mass  of  ice  38  meters  long  and  8 
meters  wide. 

THE  GLACIERE  DE  MONTHEZY.  (Browne,  Ice  Caves,  page 
97.) — This  lies  to  the  west  of  Neufchatel,  between  the  Val 
de  Travers  and  the  Val  de  Brevine,  on  the  path  between  the 
villages  of  Couvet  and  Le  Brevine,  at  an  altitude  of  1 100 
meters.  The  cave  is  nearly  oval  in  shape,  with  a  length  of 
34  meters  and  a  width  of  29  meters.  The  roof  is  from 
i  meter  to  3  meters  high.  There  are  three  pits,  about 
20  meters  deep,  on  different  sides  of  the  cave.  The 
descent  is  made  through  the  largest  pit.  On  the  6th  of 
July,  1864,  Mr.  Browne  found  the  floor  of  the  cave  cov- 
ered with  ice,  and  icicles  and  columns  in  some  places ; 
he  also  saw  a  clump  of  cowslips  (primula  elatior]  over- 
hanging the  snow  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit  through  which 
he  descended. 

PERTIUS  FREISS.  (T.  G.  Bonney,  Nature,  vol.  XL,  page 
327.) — It  lies  on  the  way  to  the  Pic  d'Arzinol,  near  Evo- 
lene,  in  the  Val  d'Herens.  A  slip  or  subsidence  of  part  of 
a  cliff  has  opened  two  joints  in  the  rock,  in  both  of  which 
fissures  Professor  Bonney  found  ice  on  July  23d. 

THE  SCHAFLOCH.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  21. 
(Korber,  Jahrbuch  des  Schweizer  Alpen  Club,  1885,  vol.  XX., 
pages  316,  343.) — Herr  Korber  gives  some  of  the  dimen- 
sions as  follows:  Entrance  14  meters  wide  and  4.70 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  223 

meters  high.    Length  of  cave  206.8  meters :  average  width 

20  meters  and  greatest  width  23.5  meters.     Height  from 
5  meters  to  7  meters.     Length  of  ice  slope  29  meters  and 
breadth  12.5  meters;  for  16  meters  the  slope  has  an  incli- 
nation of  32°.     Korber  made  the  following  observations  in 
the  Schafloch: — 

14  METERS     IOO  METERS     l6o  METERS 
DATE.         OUTSIDE.       FROM  FROM          FROM 

ENTRANCE.     ENTRANCE.     ENTRANCE. 

21  September,  1884,     10.5°  5.6°  0.2°  0.2° 
1 8  January,  1885,  ..       2.7°        — 1.0°              — 1.3° 

The  Rev.  G.  F.  Browne,  in  1 864,  found  a  temperature 
of  +  0.5°. 

THE  EISLOCH  OF  UNTERFLUH.  (Baltzer,  Jahrbuch  des 
Schweizer  Alpen  Club,  1892-93,  pages  358-362.) — Twenty 
minutes  from  Unterfluh  near  Meiringen.  A  long  narrow 
rock  crack,  some  30  meters  deep  and  running  some  dis- 
tance underground. 

WlNDHOLES      AND      MlLKHOUSES     OF      SEELISBERG. De- 

scribed  in  Part  I.,  page  45. 

WINDHOLES  ON  THE    SpiTZFLUH.     (Fugger,  Eishoklen, 

page    92.) — These  are    situated    between    Oltingen   and 

Zeylingen,  Canton  Bale:    they  generally  contain   ice  till 
the  end  of  July. 

WINDHOLES  ON  THE  BLUMMATT.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  93.) — On  the  northwestern  slope  of  the  Stanzerberg. 
Ice  sometimes  lies  over  in  these  windholes. 


224          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

WINDHOLES  NEAR  DOZEN.  (Fugger,  Eiskohlen,  page 
97.) — On  the  Mendel  ranges  in  Eppan,  southwest  of 
Bozen,  among  porphyry  rocks.  There  are  strong  wind- 
streams.  Ice  is  said  to  remain  till  late  in  the  summer. 

GROTTO  ON  MONTE  TOFANA,  DOLOMITES.  (T.  G.  Bon- 
ney,  Nature,  vol.  XL,  page  328.) — This  is  probably  a  rudi- 
mentary glaciere. 

HOLES  WITH  ICE  NEAR  LIENZ.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  97.) — One  hour  and  a  half  distant  near  Aineth,  is 
a  small  cave  containing  ice,  and  further  up  the  valley 
towards  Huben,  are  several  windholes. 

EISHOHLE  AM  BiRNHORN.  (Fugger,  Eiskoklen,  page 
131.) — Near  Leogang  in  the  Pinzgau.  Altitude  2150 
meters.  There  are  two  entrances,  from  which  a  slope  10 
meters  long,  set  at  an  angle  of  25°,  leads  to  an  ice  floor 
12  meters  long  and  3  meters  high.  Then  comes  a  small 
ice  slope,  and  a  little  horizontal  floor  at  the  back.  Ex- 
plored by  Fugger. 

GLACIERES  ON  THE  EISKOGEL.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
19.) — The  Eiskogel  is  in  the  Tennengebirge,  a  mountain 
mass  lying  east  of  Pass  Lueg.  At  an  altitude  of  about 
1900  meters,  are  two  small  caves,  about  30  meters  to  40 
meters  apart.  They  are  some  25  meters  in  length  and  get 
smaller  towards  the  bottom. 

HOLES  WITH  ICE  IN  THE  TENNENGEBIRGE,  BETWEEN  THE 

SCHALLWAND  AND  THE  TAUERNKOGEL.   (Fugger, 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  225 

page  20.) — In  this  gorge  are  some  small  holes  at  an  alti- 
tude of  about  2000  meters,  which  are  said  to  contain  ice  in 
summer. 

THE  SEEOFEN.  (A.  Posselt-Csorich,  Zeitschrift  des  Deut- 
schen  und  Oesterreichischen  Alpen  Verein,  1880,  page  270.) 
On  the  Hean  Krail  in  the  Tennengebirge,  at  an  altitude  of 
about  1900  meters.  The  entrance  faces  southwest,  and  is 
6  meters  high  and  4.5  meters  wide.  The  cave  is  25  meters 
long,  and  8  meters  wide.  The  floor  of  the  cave  is  13 
meters  below  the  entrance. 

THE  POSSELTHOHLE.  (A.  Posselt-Csorich,  Zeitschrift  des 
Deutschen  und  Osterreichischen  Alpen  Verein,  1880,  page 
273.) — Named  after  its  discoverer.  It  lies  on  the  Hoch- 
kogel  in  the  Tennengebirge,  at  an  altitude  of  about  1900 
meters.  The  entrance  faces  southwest,  and  is  about  8 
meters  high  and  8  meters  wide.  From  the  entrance  the 
cave  first  rises,  then  sinks  again  below  the  level  of  the 
entrance,  where  the  ice  begins.  The  cave  is  about  20 
meters  wide.  About  180  meters  were  explored,  to  a  point 
where  a  perpendicular  ice  wall,  6  meters  high,  barred 
the  way.  About  125  meters  from  the  entrance,  there  was 
an  ice  cone  about  7  meters  high. 

THE  GAMSLOCH  OR  DIEBSHOHLE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  14.) — It  lies  on  the  Breithorn  of  the  Steinernes  Meer, 
near  the  Riemannhauss,  at  an  altitude  of  about  2180 
meters.  The  entrance  faces  south.  There  is  first  a 


226  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

small,  then  a  larger  chamber.  The  latter  is  some  40 
meters  long,  by  5  meters  or  6  meters  wide.  The  ice  is 
in  the  large  chamber. 

EISHOHLE  AM  SEVERER.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
15.) — On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Seilerer  arete  on  the 
Ewigen  Schneeberg,  west  of  Bischofshofen,  at  an  altitude 
of  about  2400  meters,  is  a  small  glaciere  cave. 

CAVE  IN  THE  HAGENGEBIRGE,  WEST  OF  PASS  LUEG. 
(Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  15.) — It  lies  about  2  kilometers 
east  of  Kalbersberg,  at  an  altitude  of  about  2000  meters. 
A  snow  slope,  with  an  ice  floor  at  the  bottom,  leads  into 
a  long  cave,  about  which  little  is  known. 

THE  NIXLOCH.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  57.  (Fug- 
ger, Eishohlen,  page  98.) — Professor  Fugger  gathered 
some  valuable  data  in  connection  with  the  Nixloch.  In 
August,  1879,  he  found  the  air  current  entering  down- 
wards; on  September  i4th,  1879,  there  was  no  current 
either  way.  On  Christmas  day,  1878,  on  the  contrary,  the 
draughts  were  reversed,  pouring  out  of  the  hole  with  a 
temperature  of  +  7.4°:  the  outside  air  then  being  —  7.4°. 
At  this  time  the  known  lower  opening  was  in  existence. 

THE  KOLOWRATSHOHLE.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  18. 
(Fugger,  Beobachtungen,  etc.,  page  7.) — This  cavern  has 
been  more  carefully  studied  than  any  other  glaciere  cave. 
Some  of  its  dimensions  are  given  by  Professor  Fugger  as 
follows :  From  the  entrance  to  the  ice  floor,  26.6  meters ; 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  227 

surface  covered  by  ice  as  measured  on  a  plane,  2940 
square  meters;  approximate  cubical  measure  of  entire  cave, 
92,000  cubic  meters.  The  height  of  the  entrance  is  7 
meters,  with  a  width  at  the  base  of  2.7  meters,  and  at  the 
top  of  6.6  meters. 

On  the  entrance  slope  occurred  the  only  fatal  accident 
I  know  of  in  glacieres.  In  1866,  the  Bavarian  minister 
Freiherr  von  Lerchenfeld  tried  to  descend ;  a  wooden 
handrail  which  had  been  erected  over  the  snow  broke 
under  his  weight ;  von  Lerchenfeld  fell  to  the  bottom  of 
the  cave  and  died  a  few  days  after  from  the  injuries  he 
received. 

Of  the  Kolowratshole,  we  have  numerous  thermometric 
observations  by  Professor  Fugger,  of  which  I  select  a  few. 


21  May 
1 8  June 
24  June 

5  July 

22  July 
29  July 
22  Aug. 
20  Sept. 
22  Sept. 
1 6  Oct. 

22  Oct. 

26  Nov. 

6  Jan. 


DATE. 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

IS/6  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 

1876  . 
1877. 


OUTSIDE. 
+  6.5° 

+  io.° 

4-11.3° 

4-15.2° 
4- 19.8° 

4-    7.2° 

4- 14.8° 
+  5-6° 
+  4-4° 
4-  2.1° 


ENTRANCE. 

INSIDE. 

REAR. 

+  0.7° 

4-0.03°  o° 

&  4-0.08* 

+  1.6° 

+  0.230 

+  0.40 

+  1.6° 

4-0.4° 



— 

4-0.4° 



+  1.5° 

+  0.4° 

+  0.2° 

+  2.4° 

+  0.3° 

+  0.20 

+  4.0° 

+  0.4° 

4-0.25° 

+  3.0° 

+  0.45° 

4-0.6° 

— 

+  0.3° 

— 

+  2.05° 

+  0.20 

+  0.2° 

+  2.5° 

4-0.25° 

4-0.4° 

+  0.4° 

1.0° 

— 

+  1.2° 

—1.65° 

—  0.6° 

THE  SCHELLENBERGER  EiSGROTTE.  (Fugger,  Beoback- 
tungen  in  den  Eishohlen  des  Untersberges,  page  80.) — On 
the  southeast  slope  of  the  Untersberg  near  Salzburg,  at  an 


228          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

altitude  of  1580  meters.  The  path  leads  past  the  Kien- 
bergalp  over  the  Mitterkaser  and  the  Sandkaser.  In  front 
of  the  entrance  is  a  sort  of  rock  dam,  30  meters  long  and 
5  meters  or  6  meters  higher  than  the  entrance.  Masses 
of  snow  fill  the  space  between  the  two.  The  entrance  is 
about  20  meters  wide  and  from  2  meters  to  3  meters  high. 
A  snow  slope  of  25  meters  in  length,  set  at  an  angle  of  25°, 
leads  to  the  ice  floor.  The  cave  is  54  meters  long,  from 
13  meters  to  22  meters  broad  and  from  4  meters  to  10 
meters  high.  The  cave  has  been  repeatedly  examined  by 
Fugger,  who  has  always  found  most  snow  and  ice  in  the 
beginning  of  the  hot  weather,  after  which  it  gradually 
dwindles  away. 

Of  the  Schellenberger  Eisgrotte,  we  have  the  following 
thermometric  observations  by  Professor  Fugger : — 

DATE.  OUTSIDE.  ENTRANCE.  INSIDE. 

29  June,  1877 +  18°  +0.38° 

24     "      1881 +21°  +2.3°  +0.24° 

28  Aug., 1878 +14.6°  +0.2° 

12       "        1879 +I7.80  +0.3° 

4  Oct.,  1876 +16.7°  +1.4°  +0.3° 

9     "      1880 +    3.6°  +3-5°  +0.3° 

2       "        1887 +     5.4°  +0.4° 

9     "      1887 +   8.2°  +0.4° 

ii  Nov.,  1877 +   7.4°  +0.2° 

THE  GROSSER  EISKELLER  OR  KAISER  KARLS  HOHLE. 
(Fugger,  Beobachtungen,  etc.,  page  58.) — On  the  Unters- 
berg,  between  the  Salzburger  Hochthron  and  the  Schweig- 
muller  Alp.  Altitude  1687  meters.  A  stony  slope  of  26 
meters  in  length  leads  to  an  ice  floor  which  is  26  meters 
long  and  6  meters  to  8  meters  wide. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  2 29 

THE  KLEINER  EISKELLER.  (Fugger,  Beobachtungen, 
etc.,  page  73.) — Near  the  last.  A  small  cave  8  meters 
long,  6  meters  wide,  8  meters  high. 

THE  WlNDLOCHER  ON  THE  UNTERSBERG.     (Fugger,  Beob- 

achtungen,  etc.,  page  73.) — On  the  Klingersteig,  at  an  alti- 
tude of  1 300  meters.  Four  small  caves  of  about  1 2  meters 
each  in  length  and  8  meters  in  depth,  and  communica- 
ting at  the  bottom.  There  are  strong  draughts  among 
them.  In  one  of  the  caves  is  a  small  pit  of  great  depth. 

THE  EISWINKEL  ON  THE  UNTERSBERG.  (Fugger,  Beob- 
achtungen,  etc.,  page  77.) — Between  the  Klingeralp  and 
the  Vierkaser,  at  an  altitude  of  1600  meters.  A  small 
cave  or  rather  rock  shelter. 

WlNDHOLES  ON  THE  UNTERSBERG.       (Fugger,  Eishdklen, 

pages  103,  104.) — Windholes  have  been  found  by  Fugger 
on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Untersberg : 

Near  the  Hochbruch  at  Fiirstenbrunn. 

In  the  debris  of  the  Neubruch. 

In  the  debris  of  the  Veitlbruch. 

HOTEL  CELLAR  AT  WEISSENBACH  ON  THE  ATTERSEE. 
(Fugger,  Eishbhlen,  page  20.) — There  is  a  small  cave 
here,  at  an  altitude  of  452  meters,  which  is  utilized  as 
a  cellar,  and  which  is  said  to  contain  ice  in  summer. 

CAVE  NEAR  STEINBACH.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
20.) — A  small  cave  containing  ice  on  the  northwest  slopes 
of  the  Hollengebirge.  Altitude  about  700  meters. 


230          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

THE  KLIEBENSTEINHOHLE  OR  KLIMMSTEINHOHLE.  (Fug- 
ger,  Eishohlen,  page  20.) — On  the  north  slope  of  the  Hol- 
lengebirge,  near  the  Aurachkar  Alp,  between  Steinbach 
and  the  Langbath  Lakes.  Altitude  about  1300  meters. 
Length  about  40  meters,  width  20  meters,  height  15  meters. 

THE  WASSERLOCH.  (Fugger,  Eishbhlen,  page  21.) — 
On  the  south  slope  of  the  Hollengebirge,  near  the  Spitz- 
alpe.  Altitude  about  1350  meters.  At  the  bottom  of  a 
gorge  is  a  snow  heap  and  a  small  cave.  The  snow 
becomes  ice  in  the  cave. 

CAVE     ON     THE     ZlNKENKOGL     NEAR    AuSSEE.       (Fugger, 

Eishdhlen,  page  21.) — Altitude  about  1800  meters.  A 
snow  slope  leads  to  an  ice  floor  18  meters  long  and  4 
meters  wide. 

CAVE  ON  THE  KASBERG.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
22.) — South  of  Griinau  near  Gmunden.  Altitude  about 
1 500  meters.  Small  cave  1 2  meters  long,  4  meters  wide. 

THE  WASSERAUFSCHLAG  ON  THE  ROTHEN  KOGEL.  (Fug- 
ger, Eishohlen,  page  22.) — A  tunnel  near  Aussee.  The 
ice  in  it  was  formerly  used. 

THE  GSCHLOSSLKIRCHE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
22.) — On  the  Dachstein  range,  facing  the  Lake  of  Gosau. 
A  small  cave,  mostly  filled  with  snow. 

CAVE  WITH  ICE  ON  THE  MITTERSTEIN.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
hohlen, page  23.) — On  the  Dachstein,  one  hour  and  a  quar- 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  23 1 

ter  from  the  Austria  hut.  Altitude  about  1800  meters. 
Cave  5  meters  to  6  meters  wide,  30  meters  long.  In  the 
rear  a  passage  leads  apparently  to  a  windhole  where 
there  is  a  strong  draught. 

WlNDHOLES     IN      THE     OfiERSULZBACH     VALLEY    IN     THE 

PINZGAU.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  105.) — Fugger  found 
ice  among  these  on  the  ist  of  August,  1886. 

ICE  IN  AN  ABANDONED  NICKEL  MINE   ON   THE  ZINK- 

WAND,   IN    THE    SCHLADMING  VALLEY.       (Fugger,   Eiskdklen, 

page  105.) 

WlNDHOLES     ON     THE     ROTHEN     KoGEL    NEAR     AUSSEE. 

(Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  106.) — These  were  found  to 
contain  ice  on 9  the  2d  of  September,  1848. 

CAVE  ON  THE  LANGTHALKOGEL.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  23.) — On  the  Dachstein  plateau  between  Hallstatt 
and  Gosau.  A  small  cave  which  contains  ice. 

EISLUNGHOHLE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  24.) — A 
small  cave  between  the  Hochkasten  and  Ostrowiz  in  the 
Priel  range. 

THE  GELDLOCH  OR  SEELUCKEN  ON  THE  OETSCHER. 
(Schmidl,  Die  H'ohlen  des  Otscher  and  Die  Oesterreich- 
ischen  Hohlen;  Cranmer  and  Sieger,  Globus,  1899,  pages 
313-318,  and  333-335.) — The  second  known  notice  of  a 


232          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

glaciere  cave  is  the  account  of  a  visit  to  the  Oetscher  Caves 
in  1591.  After  lying  in  manuscript  for  two  and  a  half 
centuries,  it  was  published  by  Dr.  A.  Schmidl  in  1857,  in 
Die  H'ohlen  des  Otscher,  pages  21— 36.  According  to  the 
account,  which  is  naive,  but  evidently  truthful,  Kaiser 
Rudolf  II.  ordered  Reichard  Strein,  owner  of  the  Herrschaff 
Friedeck,  to  investigate  the  Otscher  and  especially  its 
caves.  He  did  so,  with  the  title  of  Kaiserlicher  Com- 
missarius,  and  accompanied  by  the  Bannerherr  Christoph 
Schallenberger,  Hans  Gasser,  and  eleven  porters.  On 
September  the  i6th,  1591,  they  visited  the  Seeliicken, 
where  they  found  a  lake  in  the  front  of  the  cave,  and 
where  the  party  had  great  difficulties  in  climbing  round 
on  to  the  ice. 

The  Seeliicken  on  the  Oetscher  is  situated  at  an  alti- 
tude of  1470  meters.  It  opens  nearly  due  south.  The 
ice  floor  is  about  20  meters  below  the  entrance  and  is 
about  38  meters  long  and  24  meters  wide;  at  the 
rear,  it  rises  for  some  15  meters  as  an  ice  wall  at  an 
angle  of  about  60°,  and  then  forms  a  second  ice  floor 
about  45  meters  long  by  19  meters  wide.  The  front  part 
of  the  ice  is  sometimes,  about  July,  covered  with  water. 
The  cave  continues  further  back,  in  two  branches,  and 
Professors  Cranmer  and  Sieger  consider  that  it  is  a  large 
windhole,  in  which  draughts  are  infrequent,  on  account 
,of  its  length  and  because  the  openings  are  near  the 
same  level.  There  are  also  several  up  and  down  curves 
and  in  these  cold  air  remains  and  acts  something  like 
a  cork  in  stopping  draughts. 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  233 

On  the  1 3th  of  September  there  were  no  draughts,  and 
the  temperatures  between  n  A.  M.  and  12  M.  were:— 

Outside  air +7.1° 

Inside  near  entrance +1.5° 

A  little  further  in .  +1.1° 

At  the  lowest  point  near  ice -fo.8° 

On  the  3ist  of  October,  1897,  there  was  a  draught, 
which  followed  the  curves  of  the  cavern,  and  which  flowed 
out  at  the  southern  end.  The  temperatures  were  :— 

Outside  air +3-7° 

Inside  near  entrance +1.3° 

At  the  lowest  point  near  ice +0.8° 

On  the  second,  higher  ice  floor  .    .    .  +  1.0° 

In  the  main  passage  behind  ice  .    .    .    .  +1.4° 

CAVE    ON    THE    KiJHFOTZEN    NEAR   WARSHENECK.       (Fug- 

ger,  Eishohlen,  page  25.) — A  small  cave  containing  ice. 

EISKELLER  ON  THE  RAX.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  25  ; 
Cranmer,  Eiskdklen,  etc.,  page  61.) — Altitude  about  1660 
meters.  A  doline  with  a  small  cave  at  the  bottom,  in 
which  melting  snow  was  found  on  the  i9th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1896. 

THE  TABLERLOCH.  (Cranmer,  Eishohlen,  etc.,  pages 
19-60.) — On  the  Durren-Wand  in  the  mountains  south  of 
Vienna,  2  hours  distant  from  Miesenbach  R.  R.  station. 
Altitude  about  1000  meters.  Entrance  7  meters  wide,  3.5 
meters  high.  Slope  30°  from  entrance.  Lowest  point  22 
meters  below  entrance.  Extreme  length  of  cave  50 


234          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

meters,  width  23  meters,  height  15  meters.  Professor 
Cranmer  found  fresh  ice  beginning  to  form  on  the  i2th 
of  November,  1 893  ;  on  the  i  st  of  December,  1 894 ;  and 
on  the  2Oth  of  October,  1895.  ^e  found  it  melting  away 
on  the  3d  of  June,  1894  I  on  the  Ist  °f  June,  1895  '•>  and 
on  the  3ist  of  May,  1896.  The  rates  at  which  the  ice 
formed  or  melted,  however,  were  not  always  the  same  in 
different  parts  of  the  cave.  The  greatest  amount  of  ice 
observed  seems  to  have  been  in  March  and  April.  In  the 
summer  months  no  perceptible  movements  of  air  seem  to 
have  been  noticed.  This  was  also  sometimes  the  case  in 
the  winter  months,  during  which,  however,  movements  of 
air  were  at  other  times  plainly  perceptible. 

THE  GIPSLOCH.  (Cranmer,  Eiskohlen,  etc.,  page  60.) — 
A  small  cave  on  the  Hohen-Wand  near  Wiener-Neustadt. 
It  is  rather  a  cold  cave  than  a  glaciere. 

THE  WINDLOCH.  (Cranmer,  Eishohlen,  etc.,  page  61.) — 
On  the  Hohen-Wand  near  Wiener  Neustadt.  Small  cave. 
Snow  found  in  it  on  June  the  2d,  1895. 

ElSLOCH     IN     THE     BRANDSTEIN     ON     THE     HoCHSCHWAB. 

(Cranmer,  Eiskohlen,  etc.,  page  64.) — Altitude  about  1600 
meters.  A  moderately  large  cave.  On  the  2ist  of  Au- 
gust, 1895,  there  was  an  ice  floor  10  meters  long  and  5 
meters  broad.  Temperature  in  rear  of  cave,  — 0.2°. 

CAVES  ON  THE  BEILSTEIN.  (Krauss,  Hohlenkunde, 
1894,  pages  207-219;  Cranmer,  Eishohlen,  etc.,  page 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  235 

63.) — These  lie  about  4  hours  on  foot  from  Gams  in  Steier- 
mark,  at  an  altitude  of  1260  meters,  in  a  place  where  the 
mountain  is  much  broken  up  by  fissures  and  snow  basins. 
The  large  cave  has  two  openings,  from  which  steep  snow 
slopes  descend.  The  cave  is  60  meters  long,  1 5  meters  to 
1 8  meters  broad,  and  about  7  meters  high.  Clefts  in  the 
rock  in  two  places  lead  to  two  lower,  small  ice  chambers. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  the  large  cave  are  two  small  ones. 
Prof.  Cranmer  found  fresh  ice  in  the  Beilsteinhohle  on  the 
2Oth  of  August,  1895.  Two  days  before,  fresh  snow  had 
fallen  on  the  neighboring  mountain  peaks. 

EISHOHLE  ON  THE  BRANDSTEiN.  (Cranmer,  Eishohlen, 
etc.,  page  62.) — A  small  cleft  cave  near  the  Langried- 
leralm  near  Gams  in  Steiermark.  On  the  2Oth  of  August, 
1895,  it  contained  some  ice. 

THE  FRAUENMAUERHOHLE.  —  Described  in  Part  I., 
page  37. 

THE  BARENLOCH  NEAR  EISENERZ.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  28.) — In  the  neighborhood  of  the  Frauenmauerhohle. 
Altitude  1 600  meters.  A  steep  snow  slope  leads  to  an  ice 
floor  13  meters  long. 

THE  KATERLOCH.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  29.) — On 
the  Goserwand  near  Diirnthal,  Glemeinde  Gschaid  in 
Steiermark.  A  large  cave,  some  190  meters  long  and  80 


236  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

meters  wide.     A  thin  ice  crust  has  been  found  on  parts  of 
the  walls  in  the  rear. 

CAVES  IN  THE  STEIN  ALPS.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
29.) — The  plateau  of  Velica  Planina  lies,  at  an  altitude  of 
1600  meters,  9  kilometers  north  of  Stein  in  the  Duchy 
of  Krain.  There  are  three  caves  containing  ice  on  the 
plateau.  The  first  is  a  big  one  and  is  called  V.  Kofcih. 
The  second  is  called  Mala  Veternica.  The  third  and  big- 
gest is  called  Velika  Veternica;  its  length  is  about  100 
meters  and  its  breadth  30  meters. 

GLACIERE  CAVES  ON  THE  NANOS  MOUNTAIN.  (Fugger, 
Eishohlen,  page  34.) — In  the  southwestern  Krain,  5  kilo- 
meters from  Prawald.  There  are  four  caves  containing  ice 
reported  on  the  Nanos  mountain.  Two  of  them  are  big. 
The  altitude  of  one  of  these  is  1300  meters,  of  the  other 
1350  meters. 

BRLOWA  JAMA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  36.) — Seven 
kilometers  from  Adelsberg.  Small  glaciere  cave. 

KOSOVA  JAMA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  38.) — Near 
Divacca.  Forty  meters  long,  20  meters  broad. 

GLACIERE  NEAR  ADELSBERG.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
36.) — Small  cave.  One  hour  from  Adelsberg. 

KACNA  JAMA.  (J.  Marinitsch,  La  Kacna  Jama,  Mem- 
oir es  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie,  vol.  I.,  page  83.) — A 
great  pit  near  the  railroad  station  of  Divacca.  Herr  Mar- 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  237 

initsch  observed  the  following  temperatures  on  January 
2d,  1896:— 

At  Divacca —  2°  C. 

In  the  Kacna  Jama  at  40  meters  .    .    .    —  i  .1°  C. 

"     "       "         "     "  100  meters    .    .     +  1.2°  C. 

"     "       "         "     "  210  meters    .    .     -f  2.i°C. 

SANCT  CANZIAN,  KARST.  (E.  A.  Martel,  Les  Abimes, 
page  564,  note.) — During  the  winter  of  1889-1890,  Herr 
Marinitsch  found  stalactites  of  ice  as  far  as  the  seven- 
teenth cascade  of  the  Recca;  1000  meters  from  the  third 
entrance  of  the  river.  The  temperature  of  the  Recca 
was  then  at  o° ;  during  the  summer,  the  temperature  of 
the  water  rises  to  27°  (?). 

THE  GROSSES  EISLOCH  OF  PARADANA.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
koklen,  page  36.) — On  the  high  plateau  of  the  forest  of 
Tarnowa,  east  of  Gorz.  A  large  pit  cave,  30  meters  to 
40  meters  deep.  Professor  Fugger  says  of  it :  "  The 
flora  in  the  basin-like  depression  has  the  character  of  high 
mountain  vegetation,  with  every  step  it  resembles  more 
this  flora  as  it  exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  glaciers,  until 
finally  in  the  deepest  point  of  the  basin  all  vegetation 
stops." 

THE  KLEINES  EISLOCH  OF  PARADANA.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
hoklen,  page  37.) — A  small  pit  glaciere,  500  meters  dis- 
tant from  the  Grosses  Eisloch  of  Paradana. 

SUCHY  BREZEN.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  37.) — A 
small  pit  glaciere,  situated  about  midway  between  the 
Grosses  and  Kleines  Eisloch  of  Paradana. 


238          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

PREVALO  CAVE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  37.) — In 
the  Buchenhochwald,  south  of  Karnica.  Small  glaciere. 

CAVE  OF  DOL.  (Fugger,  EisJwhlen,  page  38.) — On  a 
mountain  near  Haidenschaft.  Small  glaciere. 

GLACIERE  NEAR  MATENA  IN  BEZIRKE  RADMANSDORF. 
(Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's  Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page 
68.) — On  a  wooded  height.  The  ice  commences  to  melt 
in  the  early  summer. 

GLACIERE  ON  THE  SCHUTZENGELBERGE  NEAR  THE  GOLAC. 
(Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's  Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page 
64.) — A  small  glaciere. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  LAZHNA-GORA  OR  LATZENBERG. 
(Valvasor,  Die  Ehre  des  Herzogthumes  Grain,  vol.  I.,  pages 
242,  243;  Hacquet,  Oryctographia  Carniolica,  1778,  III., 
page  159.) — In  the  neighborhood  of  Vishnagora  in  the 
Krain.  The  entrance  is  under  a  church.  It  is  a  large 
cave,  40  meters  long  and  20  meters  high,  where  the  ice 
all  melts  by  the  end  of  the  summer.  Valvasor  gives  the 
following  account  of  this  cave  in  1689,  which  seems  the 
first  printed  notice  of  a  glaciere  in  German : — 

"  Near  to  Lazchenberg  up  by  the  church  of  St.  Nicho- 
las, where  a  Thabor  stands,  one  finds  a  big  hole,  which 
sinks  into  the  stony  rocks.  Through  this  one  descends 
deep  with  torches :  there  opens  then  underneath  as  big  a 
cavity  as  the  biggest  church  could  be,  and  the  same  is  ex- 
tremely high,  in  the  form  of  a  cupola.  One  sees  there 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  239 

different  teeth,  formed  and  hardened  from  the  water  turned 
to  stone.  Further  down  one  arrives  to  a  deep  gully  :  into 
which,  however,  I  have  not  been.  On  the  other  side  one 
must  again  ascend,  and  then  one  comes  again  to  a  cupola : 
in  which  cupola  ice  stands  up  like  an  organ  from  the  earth. 
"There  also  one  sees  icicles  of  pure  ice  of  different 
sizes  and  heights,  of  which  many  are  one  or  two  klafters 
high  and  as  thick  as  a  man ;  but  many  only  two  or  three 
spans  high  or  higher,  and  as  thick  as  an  arm,  and  some  also 
thinner.  This  ice  is  formed  from  the  drops  of  falling 
water ;  and  indeed  in  summer ;  for  in  winter  there  is  no 
ice  therein.  Over  such  ice  one  must  then  ascend,  as 
there  are  then  said  to  be  separate  holes  and  grottoes. 
But  no  one  has  been  any  further." 

GLACIERE  ON  THE  DINI  VERH.  (Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's 
Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page  67.) — Near  Tomischle  in  the 
Krain.  Small  glaciere. 

EISKELLER  NEAR  ROSSECK.  (Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's 
Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page  64.) — On  the  Pograca  Moun- 
tain in  the  Krain,  northeast  of  the  Hornwald,  near  the 
Meierhof  Rosseck.  Small  glaciere  cave. 

GORGE  NEAR  ROSSECK.  (Valvasor,  Die  Ehre  des  Her- 
zogthumes  Crain,  vol.  I.,  page  243  and  page  517  ;  Petruzzi 
in  Haidingers  Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page  64.) — Behind 
the  ruined  castle  of  Rosseck,  on  the  Pograca  Mountain 
in  the  Krain,  is  a  gorge,  at  whose  bottom  are  four  little 
holes  containing  ice  most  of  the  year. 


240          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Valvasor  wrote  of  this  cave  in  1689:  "  Near  Rosseck 
immediately  back  of  the  castle  there  opens  a  mighty  cavern 
entirely  in  stony  rock,  and  yawns  in  the  shape  of  a  caul- 
dron down  into  the  earth.  Above  as  wide  as  a  good  rifle 
shot,  but  below  quite  narrow.  And  there  underneath 
there  are  many  holes  where  the  ice  remains  through  the 
whole  summer.  From  such  ice  have  Duke  Frederick  Graf 
and  Duke  von  Gallenberg  daily  made  use  in  summer  to 
cool  their  wine.  Six  years  ago  I  descended  there  in  the 
month  of  August,  and  found  ice  enough  in  all  the  holes." 

In  the  same  volume  Freiherr  Valvasor  elaborates  his 
remarks  about  this  cave  and  that  at  Latzenberg,  repeating 
in  the  main  the  observations  in  the  paragraph  just  given. 
He  says:  "There  hang  also  long  icicles  which  are  quite 
pleasant  to  look  at.  *  *  *  This  ice  breaks  all  too  easily 
and  quickly.  *  *  *  Contrarywise,  however,  this  ice  lasts 
much  longer  in  the  sun  and  the  heat  than  other  ice.  *  *  * 
Some  might  think  it  would  eventually  turn  into  stone :  this, 
however,  does  not  happen  :  for  it  remains  only  in  summer 
and  disappears  in  winter :  as  I  can  say  for  certain,  as  I  have 
been  in  myself  in  the  winter  as  well  as  in  the  summer  time. 
*  *  *  For  as  in  the  summer  the  floor  is  quite  covered 
with  ice:  it  makes  walking  so  dangerous  and  bad  that  one 
cannot  take  a  step  without  climbing  irons ;  but  in  the  win- 
ter time  one  goes  safely  and  well.  *  *  *  " 

Freiherr  Valvasor  was  evidently  an  accurate  observer, 
and,  if  for  his  word  "winter"  we  substitute  "autumn,"  his 
account  will  be  much  more  nearly  correct  than  might  have 
been  expected  two  centuries  ago. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  241 

THE  KUNTSCHNER  EISHOHLE.  (Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's 
Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  pages  65,  66.) — This  is  known  also 
as  the  Toplitzer,  Unterwarmberger  or  Ainodter  Grotto.  It 
lies  2  kilometers  from  Kuntschen,  and  12  kilometers  from 
Toplitz  near  Neustadtel,  in  the  Krain.  Altitude  about  630 
meters.  Petruzzi  says:  "  Of  all  so  far  noticed  ice  grottoes 
it  is  the  most  wonderful  and  splendid."  In  August  and 
September,  1 849,  the  temperatures  near  the  ice  were  about 
two  degrees  above  freezing.  On  the  i6th  of  August,  there 
were  many  long  ice  stalagmites  and  stalactites ;  on  the 
2Qth  of  September  they  had  diminished  materially.  Petruzzi 
says  also:  "One  leaves  the  abundant  vegetation  of  the 
Alpine  summer  flora,  and  through  bushes  and  dwarf  un- 
derbrush, through  bare  and  half  moss  covered  rocks  and 
debris,  through  rotten  and  twisted  tree  stems,  one  conies 
to  the  hall  of  eternal  winter,  where  the  microscopic  mosses 
of  the  north  surround  the  thousand  year  old  stalactites, 
hanging  from  the  dripping  vault,  with  an  always  passing, 
always  freshly  forming,  tender  sulphur  colored  down." 
Dr.  Schwalbe  has  also  examined  this  cave. 

THE  FRIEDRICHSTEINER  OR  GOTTSCHEER  EISHOHLE. — 
Described  in  Part  I.,  page  51. 

THE  HANDLER  EISLOCH. — 7  kilometers  south  of  Gott- 
schee  and  about  twenty  minutes  from  the  village  of  Hand- 
lern,  near  Rieg.  Altitude  596  meters.  Small  cave.  Pro- 
fessor Hans  Satter  of  Gottschee  told  me  he  doubted 
whether  ice  ever  formed  there  now. 


242          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

THE  SUCHENREUTHER  EiSLOCH. — Described  in  Part  I., 
page  55- 

LEDENICA  NA  VELIKI  GORI.  (Petruzzi  in  Haidinger's 
Berichte,  etc.,  vol.  VII.,  page  67.) — In  the  Krain,  n  kilo- 
meters from  Reifnitz,  on  the  Balastena  Mountain.  Alti- 
tude 1253  meters.  Much  ice  was  found  there  on  the 
loth  of  July,  1834. 

MRZLA  JAMA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  34.) — On  the 
Innerkrainer  Schneeberg,  13  kilometers  from  Laas. 

GLACIERE  CAVES  ON  THE  KAPELLA.  Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  39.) — On  a  pass  in  the  neighborhood  of  Piacenza. 
Altitude  800  meters. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  IN  WEST  BOSNIA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen. 
page  39.) — West  of  Kljuc,  county  Petrovac,  district  Smol- 
jama,  near  village  Trvanj.  Called  Trvanj,  also  Ledenica, 
Altitude  about  1000  meters,  length  170  meters,  breadth 
from  4  meters  to  30  meters. 

RTANJ,  SERVIA.  (A.  Boue,  La  Turquie  d' Europe,  1840, 
vol.  I.,  page  132  ;  Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896, 
pages  72-74.) — This  glaciere  is  on  the  south  side  of  Siljak, 
near  the  village  Muzinac.  A  passage  60  meters  long  leads 
to  a  hall  about  10  meters  in  height.  Dr.  Boue  found  snow 
here  in  August,  the  thermometer  standing  below  freezing 
point.  The  people  in  the  neighborhood  told  Dr.  Boue 


LIST   OF    GLACIERES.  243 

that  the  snow  is  formed  in  June  and  disappears  in  Sep- 
tember and  that  it  is  sometimes  carried  to  Nisch.  He 
also  heard  of  similar  cavities  on  the  Bannat  Mountain. 
Dr.  Cvijic  observed  in  the  hall  a  temperature  of  +  0.4°  C. 

LEDENA  PEC,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca,  vol.  II., 
1896,  pages  68,  69.) — On  the  Ledini  Verh  or  Glacial  Peak, 
at  an  altitude  of  800  meters ;  distant  one  hour  and  a  half 
from  the  village  of  Souvold.  Length  of  passage  108  me- 
ters ;  at  entrance  about  6  meters,  at  end  about  1 5  meters 
in  height.  On  the  loth  of  May,  1893,  there  was  plenty 
of  ice  and  snow.  Temperature  of  outside  air  +19°  C. ; 
inside  air  at  rear  +0.5°  C.  Probably  permanent  glaciere. 

DOBRA  LEDENICA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca, 
vol.  II.,  1896,  page  70.) — West  of  Ledeno  Brdo.  Probably 
periodic  glaciere.  On  July  25th,  1890,  the  temperature  of 
the  outside  air  was  4-  26°  C. ;  of  the  inside  air  +3.5°  C. 
Ledenica  is  the  name  for  a  glaciere  in  Servia. 

LEDENICA  IN  THE  MALA  BREZOVICA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A. 
Cvijic,  Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  70.) — Length  43  me- 
ters. A  large,  permanent  glaciere.  On  July  28th,  1890, 
the  outside  air  was  +  23°:  inside  air  +  2°. 

LEDENICA  TREME  IN  THE  SOUVA  PLANINA,  SERVIA. 
(Cvijic,  Dr.  A.,  Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  71.) — Altitude 
1600  meters  to  1700  meters.  A  rather  large,  probably 
permanent  glaciere.  Plenty  of  ice  in  it  on  April  2ist, 
1894. 


244  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

ZLA  LEDENICA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca,  vol. 
II.,  1896,  page  72.)  —  On  the  Kucaj.  A  permanent  glaci- 
ere,  7  meters  or  8  meters  deep.  On  July  25th,  1890,  out- 
side air  +  25°  ;  inside  air  at  snow  +  6 


° 


GLACIERE  ON  THE  DEVICA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic, 
Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  74.)  —  Under  the  peak  La- 
zurevica.  Altitude  1000  meters.  A  narrow  passage  leads 
to  a  hall  1  7  meters  long  by  1  2  meters  wide  and  20  meters 
high.  On  June  soth,  1893,  there  was  plenty  of  snow  in 
the  passage  and  ice  in  the  hall. 

GLACIERE  VLASKA  PECURA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic, 
Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  74.)  —  On  the  Devica,  under 
the  Golemi  Vech.  A  small  periodic  glaciere. 

GLACIERE  IN  THE  ZDREBICA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic, 
Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  74.)  —  On  the  southeast  side 
of  the  Souva  Planina,  near  the  village  Veliki  Krtchimir. 
A  small  periodic  glaciere.  On  April  2Oth,  1874,  plenty 
of  snow  and  ice. 

GLACIERE  STOYKOVA,  SERVIA.  (Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca, 
vol.  II.,  1896,  pages  75,  76.)  —  On  the  Kucaj.  A  large  pit 
cave  with  a  total  depth  of  23  meters.  Probably  a  per- 
manent glaciere.  On  July  2ist,  1890,  plenty  of  ice  and 
snow.  Outside  air  +21°;  inside  air  in  hall  +0.5°. 

GLACIERE  ON  THE  TOPIZNICA  MOUNTAIN,  SERVIA. 
(Dr.  A.  Cvijic,  Spelunca,  vol.  II.,  1896,  page  76.)  —  Altitude 


LIST  OF   GLACIERES.  245 

1  100  meters.  A  large  pit  cave  with  an  extreme  depth 
of  27  meters.  In  August,  1893,  there  was  plenty  of  snow 
and  ice,  and  the  inside  temperature  was  +  i°. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  BORSZEK.  (Bielz,  Siebenburgen, 
1885,  page  334.)  —  About  an  hour  distant  from  the  baths, 
in  broken  limestone.  It  seems  to  be  a  rock  fissure,  at 
the  end  of  which  ice  is  found  till  towards  the  middle  of 


GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  SONKOLYOS  IN  THE  KOROS  VAL- 
LEY. (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  51.)  —  Small  cave. 

GLACIERE  NEAR  ZAPODIA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
50.)  —  Near  Petrosc  in  the  Bihar  Mountains.  Altitude 
1140  meters;  length  20  meters,  width  7  meters. 

PESCERCA  LA  JESERE.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  50.)  — 
Between  Vervul  la  Belegiana  and  the  Batrina  in  the  Bihar 
Mountains.  Small  freezing  cave. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  VERESPATAK,  IN  TRANSYLVANIA. 
(Bielz,  Siebenburgen,  page  52.)  —  Small  cave. 

GIETARIU  NEAR  FUNACZA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
50.)  —  In  the  Bihar  Mountains.  Small  glaciere  cave. 

CAVE  OF  SKERIZORA.  (Karl  F.  Peters,  Sitzungsbericht 
der  K.  K.  Akademie  der  Wissenchaften,  Wien,  vol.  XLIII., 
1861,  page  437;  Bielz,  Siebenburgen,  1885,  page  37.)  — 
This  is  one  of  the  greatest  glaciere  caves  known.  It 


246          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

lies  in  the  Bihar  Mountains,  three  hours  from  the  village 
of  Ober-Girda,  which  can  be  reached  from  Gyula  Fehervar, 
via  Topanfalva.  It  is  a  pit  cave,  in  limestone,  at  an  alti- 
tude of  1127  meters.  The  pit  is  about  57  meters  broad, 
and  45  meters  deep,  with  exceedingly  steep  walls.  The 
entrance  is  in  the  northeast  wall  and  is  about  10  meters 
high.  This  leads  into  a  nearly  circular  hall  47  meters  in 
diameter  and  about  20  meters  high.  The  floor  is  ice.  In 
the  southeast  corner  is  a  hole  over  75  meters  deep.  In 
the  northwest  wall  is  an  opening  14  meters  wide,  which 
forms  the  beginning  of  a  sort  of  gallery  54  meters  long 
and  which  at  its  further  end  is  24  meters  wide  and  8  meters 
high.  This  is  also  covered  with  a  flooring  of  ice,,  which  in 
some  places  can  only  be  descended  by  step  cutting.  This 
passage  is  also  richly  adorned  with  ice  stalactites  and  stal- 
agmites. At  its  end  is  another  also  nearly  circular  hall, 
21  meters  in  diameter  and  about  22  meters  high.  This 
is  called  the  ' Beszerika*  or  church.  In  one  place  there 
is  a  magnificent  collection  of  ice  stalagmites  called  the 
"Altar."  Peters  found  in  dirt  on  the  sides  of  the  cave 
remains  of  bats  not  very  different  from  those  now  living 
in  the  vicinity.  He  thinks  the  bats  may  have  come  there 
before  the  cave  became  a  glaciere ;  or  else  that  they 
may  even  now  sometimes  get  into  the  first  hall  and  there 
perish  from  cold.  This  makes  it  uncertain,  therefore, 
whether  the  remains  can  be  considered  as  of  the  past 
or  the  present. 

EISHOHLE  BEI  ROTH. — Described  in  Part  I.,  page  35. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  247 

MINES  ON  THE  EISENBERG.  (Fugger,  Eishoklen,  page 
59.) — These  lie  near  Blankenburg  in  the  Thiiringer  Wald 
and  have  been  known  to  contain  ice. 

THE    ZlEGENLOCH    OR    GROSSES    KALTE   LOCH,   AND   THE 

KLEINES  KALTE  LOCH.  (Behrens,  Hercynia  Curiosa, 
pages  68,  70.) — These  lie  near  Questenberg  in  the 
Southern  Harz  Mountains,  at  an  altitude  of  about  300 
meters.  The  Grosses  Loch  is  described  as  a  sort  of  small 
pit  some  8  meters  deep,  in  one  side  of  which  opens  a  small 
fissure  some  10  meters  long.  Ice  has  been  found  in  this 
in  April ;  Schwalbe  found  none  there  in  July.  The  Kleines 
Loch  was  another  small  cold  cave  near  the  Ziegenloch,  but 
it  has  been  filled  up.  Behrens  says  that  the  dampness  at 
the  cave  at  Questenberg  is  precipitated  as  snow. 

HOLES  WITH  ICE  NEAR  SANCT  BLASIEN.  (Fugger, 
Eishohlen,  page  109.) — In  the  Black  Forest,  among 
boulders  at  an  altitude  of  820  meters. 

HOLES  WITH  ICE  NEAR  HOCHENSCHWAND.  (Fugger, 
Eishbhlen,  page  109.) — In  the  Black  Forest,  among 
boulders  at  an  altitude  of  820  meters. 

ElSSTOLLEN     AND    ElSKELLER   AT    THE    DoRNBURG.        De- 

scribed  in  Part  I.,  page  59.  (Poggendorff's  Annalen  der  Phy- 
sik  und  Chemie,  Ergdnzungsband,  1842,  pages  517-519.) — 
Ice  appears  to  have  been  discovered  at  the  Dornburg 
in  June,  1839.  It  was  found  from  a  depth  of  60  centi- 
meters down  to  8  meters.  The  width  of  the  ice-bearing 


248          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

talus  was  from   12  meters    to   15   meters;   and  it  is  said 
that  it  becomes  wider  in  winter  and  narrower  in  summer. 

BESCHERTGLUCK  MINE,  FREIBERG  DISTRICT.  (Prestwich, 
Collected  papers,  etc.,  page  206.) — Mr.  Prestwich  quotes 
Daubuisson  as  having  seen  the  shaft  of  the  mine  lined 
with  ice  to  a  depth  of  80  toises  (144  meters?). 

ICE  IN  THE  ZINC  MINES  ON  THE  SAUBERG.  (Reich, 
Beobachtungen  iiber  die  Temperatur  des  Gesteines,  1834, 
pages  175  and  205.) — These  are  near  Ehrenfriedersdorf 
in  Saxony  and  formerly  contained  ice  in  winter.  They 
are  reported  now  to  be  destroyed. 

THE  GARISCHE  STOLLEN.  (Lohman,  Das  Hohleneis, 
etc.,  page  3.) — Near  Ehrenfriedersdorf  in  the  Freiwald. 
Lohman  found  much  ice  in  this  in  January,  less  in  March, 
and  scarcely  any  in  May. 

THE  RITTERHOHLE.  (Lohman,  Das  Hohleneis,  page  5.) — 
Near  Ehrenfriedersdorf  in  the  Freiwald.  Small  ice  deposit. 
The  rock  is  granite. 

THE  STULPNERHOHLE.  (Lohman,  Das  Hohleneis,  page 
6.) — Near  the  Ritterhohle.  Small  ice  deposit  in  granite 
rock. 

ElSLOCH  AND  ElSHOHLE    NEAR   GEYER  IN  SAXONY.    (Loh- 

man,     Das   Hohleneis,   page   7.) — These  are  in   a  place 
called  die  Binge.      Both  are  small. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  249 

THE  ALTE  THIELE.  (Lohman,  Das  Hohleneis,  page 
8.) — Near  Buchholz  in  Saxony.  Small  ice  deposit. 

MINE  PITS  IN  THE  SAXON  ERZGEBIRGE.  (Reich,  Beoback- 
tungen  uber  die  Temperatur  des  Gesteines,  1834.) — Ex- 
tremely low  temperatures  have  been  found  in  several  of 
these  pits: — 

In  the  Churprinz  Friedrich  August  Erbstollen  near 
Freiberg. 

In  the  Heinrichs-Sohle  in  the  Stockwerk  near  Altenberg. 

In  the  Henneberg  Stollen,  on  the  Ingelbach,  near 
Johanngeorgenstadt. 

In  the  Weiss- Adler-Stollen,  on  the  left  declivity  of  the 
valley  of  the  Schwarzwasser,  above  the  Antonshiitte. 

HOLES  HOLDING  ICE  ON  THE  SAALBERG.  (Annalen  der 
Physik  und  Chemie,  1850,  LXXXI.,  page  579.) — These  lie 
between  Saalberg  and  the  Burgk.  Ice  is  found  here  on 
the  surface  from  June  to  the  middle  of  August.  From 
the  observations  of  Professor  Hartenstein,  Fugger  de- 
duces that  this  place  must  be  the  lower  end  of  one  or 
more  windholes. 

MILLSTONE  QUARRY  OF  NIEDERMENDIG.  (M.  A.  Pictet, 
Memoir es  de  la  Societe  d*  Histoire  Naturelle  de  Geneve,  1821, 
vol.  I.,  page  151.) — On  the  Niederrhein.  There  are  many 
connecting  pits  and  galleries  here,  in  which  ice  has  been 
found  in  the  hottest  days  of  summer  as  well  as  in  March. 
The  abandoned  shafts  are  utilized  as  beer  cellars. 


250          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

EISGRUBE  ON  THE  UMPFEN.  (Voigt,  Miueralogische 
Reisen  durchdas  Herzogthum  Weimar,  1785,  vol.  II.,  page 
123.) — In  the  Rhongebirge,  twenty  minutes  from  Kalten- 
nordheim,  are  some  irregular  masses  of  columnar  basalt,  at 
an  altitude  of  about  500  meters,  among  which  abundant 
ice  has  been  found  up  to  late  in  the  summer. 

CAVE  NEAR  MUGGENDORF,  pRANCONiA. — The  landlord  of 
the  Kurhaus  Hotel  at  Muggendorf,  told  me  that  there  was 
a  small  cave  in  the  vicinity  where  there  was  ice  in  the 
winter  and  spring,  but  that  it  all  melted  away  before 
August. 

CAVE  ON  THE  DURRBERG.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
59.) — Near  Zwickau  in  Bohemia.  Small  cave  which  some- 
times contains  ice. 

THE  SCHNEEBINGE.  (Lohman,  Das  HoMeneis,  page 
11.) — Near  Flatten  in  Bohemia.  A  small  ice  deposit  in 
an  old  mine. 

ICE  AMONG  BASALTIC  ROCKS  ON  THE  PLESCHIWITZ. 
(Pleischl,  in  Poggendorff 's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie, 
vol.  LIV.,  1841,  pages  292-299.) — Above  Kameik  near 
Leitmeritz  in  Bohemia.  Professor  Pleischl,  in  May,  1834, 
found  ice  under  the  rocks  a  little  distance  from  the  sur- 
face. The  surface  of  the  rocks  was  then  warm.  On  the 
2ist  of  January,  1838,  Professor  Pleischl  found  snow  on 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  251 

the  outside  of  the  rocks,  but  no  ice  underneath.  He  was 
assured  by  the  people  of  the  district  that  the  hotter  the 
summer,  the  more  ice  is  found. 

GLACIERE  ON  THE  ZINKENSTEIN.  (Pleischl,  in  Poggen- 
dorff's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  vol.  LIV.,  1841, 
page  299). — The  Zinkenstein  is  one  of  the  highest  points 
of  the  Vierzehnberge,  in  the  Leitmeritz  Kreis.  There  is  a 
deep  cleft  in  basalt,  where  ice  has  been  found  in  summer. 

ElSLOCHER    ON    THE    STEINBERG.        (Pleischl,   in    Poggen- 

dorff's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  vol.  LIV.,  1841, 
page  299.) — In  the  Herrschaft  Konoged.  Small  basalt 
talus  where  ice  is  found  in  the  hottest  weather. 

WINDHOLES  IN  BOHEMIA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
109.) — In  the  neighborhood  of  Leitmeritz.  These  are 
in  basaltic  rock.  Ice  sometimes  forms  at  the  lower  ex- 
tremity. The  most  notable  are — 

On  the  Steinberg  near  Mertendorf  on  the  Triebschbach ; 

On  the  Kelchberg  near  Triebsch  ; 

On  the  Kreuzberg  near  Leitmeritz  ; 

On  the  Rodersberg  near  Schlackenwerth ; 

In  the  Grossen  Loch  near  Tschersink. 

ICE  IN  A  PIT  NEAR  NEUSOHL.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
109.) 

THE  FRAINER  EISLEITHEN.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page 
33.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  163.)  Professor  Fugger 


252          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

quotes  the  following  observations  by  Forester  Wachtl  at 
Frain : — 


1861. 

1862. 

January  

—  7°  to  —  2° 

—  5° 

February    .... 

—  2°  to      o° 

—  5°  to  —  2' 

March     

o°  to  +  1° 

—  i°  to      o' 

April  

+  i°  to  +  2° 

0° 

May    

+  2° 

+  2°  to  +  5° 

June    

+  2°  to  +  3° 

+  3°  to  +  6' 

Tulv 

+  V 

+  V  to  4-  s' 

August  

o 

+  3°  to  +  7° 

1     O      '          '     J 

+  5° 

September     .    .    . 

+  7°  to  +  6° 

+  3°  to  +  6C 

October  

+  6° 

+  5° 

November  .... 

— 

+  5° 

December     .    .    . 

—  i°  to—  3° 

0°  tO  —  2C 

DEMENYFALVA  JEGBARLANG.  Described  in  Part  I., 
page  24. 

DOBSINA  JEGBARLANG.  Described  in  Part  I.,  page  13. 
(Pelech ;  The  Valley  of  Stracena  and  the  Dobschau  Ice 
Cavern ;  Schwalbe,  Uber  Eishohlen  und  Eislocher,  page 
31.) — Pelech  gives  the  following  measurements:  The 
Grosser  Saal  is  120  meters  long,  35  meters  to  60  meters 
wide,  and  10  meters  to  n  meters  high,  with  a  surface  area 
of  4644  square  meters.  The  ice  mass  is  estimated  as 
125,000  cubic  meters  in  volume.  The  length  of  the  Kor- 
ridor  is  200  meters ;  the  left  wing  being  80  meters,  and 
the  right  wing  120  meters  long.  The  cave  was  first  en- 
tered on  July  1 5th,  1870,  by  Herr  Eugene  Ruffiny,  of 
Dobsina,  and  some  friends.  He  had  happened  to  fire  a 
gun  in  front  of  it,  and  hearing  a  continuous  muffled 
rolling  echo  within,  determined  to  explore  it. 


LIST   OF   GLACIERES.  253 

Dr.  Schwalbe  quotes  the  following  series  of  observa- 
tions in  Dobsina  during  the  year  1881  : 

KNTRANCE     CROSSFRSAAT      DEEPEST  POINT   FROM  KORRIDOR 
ENTRANCE.    GROSSER   SAAL.    OFKORRIDQR-  TOKLEINEN  SAAL. 


January      .    .    . 

—  2.2° 

—  4.2° 

—  2.2° 

—  0.6° 

February   .    .    . 

—  1.2° 

—  3-4° 

—  1.9° 

—  0.3° 

March    .... 

—  1.4° 

2.1° 

—  0.9° 

—  0.2° 

April      .... 

—  0.25° 

—1.25° 

—  0.7° 

+  0.3° 

May   

+  0.7° 

+  0.0° 

—  o.<;0 

+  O  ^° 

June   

**•  / 

+  1.0° 

'  -7 

+  I.S° 

*"  3 

—  0.5° 

i    u,  j 

+  O  5° 

July 

+  1.8° 

'3 

+  2.1° 

*-"•  3 

+  0.2° 

1    V.J 

+  1.1° 

August  .... 

+  3-4° 

+  3-8° 

+  0.24° 

+  0.8° 

September     .    , 

+  2.0° 

+  2.3° 

—  0.3° 

—  0.15' 

October     .    .    . 

—  0.2° 

-^0.2° 

—  0.5° 

0.2° 

November     .    . 

—  i-3° 

—  1.9° 

—  0.6° 

—  0.3° 

December      .    . 

2.2" 

—3.2° 

—  0.65° 

—  1-75' 

Year.    .    .    .     +0.04  — 0.44°          — 0.69°  — 0.02° 

The  Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin,  March,  ist,  1899, 
printed  the  following  note  about  Dobsina :  "  In  this  cave, 
some  sixteen  years  ago,  a  couple  named  Kolcsey  elected 
to  pass  the  week  immediately  following  their  marriage. 
They  took  with  them  a  plentiful  supply  of  rugs,  blankets 
and  warm  clothing,  but  notwithstanding  all  precautions, 
their  experience  was  not  of  a  sufficiently  pleasant  nature 
to  tempt  imitators." 

LEDNICA  OF  SZILIZE.  (M.  Bel,  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions, London,  1739,  vol.  XLL,  page  41  et  seq. ;  Townson, 
Travels  in  Hungary,  1797;  Terlanday,  Petermanns  Mitt- 
heilungen,  1893,  page  283.) — It  lies  1.5  kilometers  from  the 
village  of  Szilize,  near  Rosenau,  in  Gomor  County,  in  the 


254  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Carpathians,  at  an  altitude  of  460  meters.  A  pit  about  35 
meters  deep,  75  meters  long,  and  48  meters  wide  opens  in 
the  ground,  and  at  the  southern  end,  in  the  perpendicular 
wall,  is  the  cave.  The  entrance  is  22  meters  wide,  15 
meters  high,  and  faces  north.  A  slope  4  meters  long  sinks 
with  an  angle  of  35°  to  the  floor  of  the  cave,  which  is  nearly 
circular  in  form,  with  a  diameter  of  about  10  meters.  On 
the  east  side  of  the  cave  there  seems  to  be  a  hole  in  the 
ice  some  10  meters  deep. 

In  1 739,  there  was  published  in  London  a  curious  letter 
in  Latin  from  Matthias  Bel ,  a  Hungarian  savant,  about  the 
cavern  of  Szilize.  He  says  :  "The  nature  of  the  cave  has 
this  of  remarkable,  that,  when  outside  the  winter  freezes 
strongest,  inside  the  air  is  balmy :  but  it  is  cold,  even  icy, 
when  the  sun  shines  warmest.  As  soon  as  the  snow 
melts  and  spring  begins,  the  inner  roof  of  the  cave, 
where  the  midday  sun  strikes  the  outside,  begins  to 
sweat  clear  water,  which  drops  down  here  and  there ; 
through  the  power  of  the  inner  cold  it  turns  to  trans- 
parent ice  and  forms  icicles,  which  in  thickness  equal 
large  barrels  and  take  wonderful  shapes.  What  as  water 
drops  from  the  icicles  to  the  sandy  floor,  freezes  up, 
even  quicker,  than  one  would  think. 

"  The  icy  nature  of  the  cave  lasts  through  the  whole 
summer,  and  what  is  most  remarkable,  it  increases  with  the 
increasing  heat  of  the  sun.  In  the  beginning  of  the  spring 
the  soft  winter's  warmth  begins  to  give  way  soon  there- 
after, and  when  spring  is  more  advanced,  the  cold  sets  in, 
and  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  warmer  does  the  (outside) 


LIST  OF   GLAClfeRES.  255 

air  grow,  the  more  does  the  cave  cool  off.  And  when  the 
summer  has  begun  and  the  dog  days  glow,  everything 
within  goes  into  icy  winter.  Then  do  the  drops  of  water 
pouring  from  the  roof  of  the  cave  change  into  ice,  and  with 
such  rapidity  that  where  to-day  delicate  icicles  are  visible, 
to-morrow  masses  and  lumps,  which  fall  to  the  ground, 
appear.  Here  and  there,  where  the  water  drips  down  the 
walls  of  the  cave,  one  sees  wonderful  incrustations,  like  an 
artificial  carpeting.  The  rest  of  the  water  remains  hanging 
on  the  ice,  according  to  the  warmth  of  the  day.  For  when 
for  a  longer  time  it  is  warmer,  the  ice  of  the  stalactites,  of 
the  walls  and  of  the  floor  increases  ;  but  when  the  ruling 
heat,  as  sometimes  happens,  is  diminished  through  north 
winds  or  rainstorm,  the  waters  freeze  more  slowly,  the  ice 
drips  more  fully  and  begins  to  form  little  brooklets.  When 
however  the  temperature  gets  warmer,  the  icy  nature  of 
the  cave  begins  once  more.  Some  have  observed,  that  the 
nature  of  the  grotto  receives  the  changes  of  temperature 
ahead,  like  a  barometer.  For,  when  a  warmer  tempera- 
ture sets  in  outside,  the  waters  change  into  ice,  several 
hours  before  the  heat  sets  in,  while  the  opposite  takes 
place,  when  by  day  the  temperature  is  colder ;  for  then 
even  by  the  warmest  sky  the  ice  begins  to  melt  notice- 
ably. 

"When  the  dog  days  have  passed  and  the  summer 
has  already  changed  into  fall,  the  cave  with  its  own  nature 
follows  the  conditions  of  the  external  air.  In  the  early 
months  and  while  the  nights  are  growing  colder,  the  ice 
diminishes  visibly ;  then  when  the  air  cools  off  more  and 


256          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

more  and  when  the  brooks  and  side  are  rigid  with  frost,  it 
begins  to  melt  as  though  there  was  a  fire  built  underneath, 
until,  when  winter  reigns,  it  is  entirely  dry  in  the  cave, 
without  a  sign  of  ice  being  left  behind.  Then  gentle 
warmth  spreads  into  the  entire  cave,  and  this  icy  grave 
becomes  a  safety  resort  for  insects  and  other  small  ani- 
mals, which  bear  the  winter  with  difficulty.  But  besides 
swarms  of  flies  and  gnats,  troops  of  bats  and  scores  of 
owls,  hares  and  foxes  take  up  their  abode  here,  until  with 
the  beginning  of  spring,  the  cave  once  more  assumes  its 
icy  appearance." 

These  assertions  of  Bel  are  the  most  inaccurate  ones 
made  about  glacieres.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  they  have  col- 
ored the  literature  of  the  subject  down  to  our  own  times  ; 
and  have  been  repeated  many  times,  sometimes  with, 
sometimes  without,  the  hares  and  foxes ;  the  latest  repeti- 
tion seeming  to  occur  in  1883. 

CAVE   NEAR   THE  VILLAGE    OF   BoRZOVA,  ToRNA  COUNTY, 

CARPATHIANS.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  52.) — Reported 
to  contain  ice,  but  nothing  certainly  known. 

CRIMEA. 

LEDIANAIA  YAMA.  (Montpeyreux,  Voyage  autour  du 
Caucase  V.,  page  440 ;  Hablizl,  Description  physique  de  la 
Tauride,  1783,  pages  43-45.) — On  the  Karabi-Yaila,  32 
kilometers  southwest  of  Karasubazar.  Altitude  about 
1 800  meters.  A  fairly  large  pit  glaciere  cave.  The  name 
means  an  abyss  of  ice. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  257 

GLACIERE  CAVE  ON  THE  YAILA  OF  OULOUZENE  AT  KA- 
ZAUTE.  (Montpeyreux,  Voyage  autour  du  Caucase,  II.,  page 
380.) — A  small  pit  cave. 

CAUCASUS. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  IN  THE  KHOTEVI  VALLEY.  (Montpey- 
reux, Voyage  autour  du  Caucase,  II.,  page  379.) — In  the  pro- 
vince of  Radscha,  near  the  Monastery  Nikortsminda.  A 
large  pit  cave  which  must  be  of  the  same  order  as  that  of 
Chaux-les-Passavant  and  from  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Koutais  get  ice. 

GLACIERES  NEAR  KOUTAI'S.  (E.  A.  Martel,  Les  Abimes, 
page  397.) — "  Dr.  A.  Sakharov,  it  appears,  has  recently 
discovered  in  the  government  of  Koutais  caves  containing 
ice." 

CAVE  OF  SABAZWINDA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page 
126.) — Near  the  town  of  Zorchinwall,  on  the  river  Liachwa, 
province  of  Gori,  in  Georgia,  near  the  Ossete  Mountains. 
Ice  has  been  found  in  the  cave  in  summer.  In  December 
there  was  none. 

URAL. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  SUKEPWA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  63.) — On  the  Volga,  province  of  Zlatoust.  Small 
cave  on  the  river  bank. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  ON  THE  TIRMEN  TAU.  (Lepechin, 
Tagebuch  der  Reise,  etc.,  vol.  II.,  page  28.) — Near  the 
village  of  Chaszina,  160  kilometers  from  Orenburg. 
Small  cave. 


258          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  OF  KURMANAJEVA.  (Lepechin,  Tagebuch 
der  Reise,  etc.,  vol.  II.,  page  5.) — Near  Kurmanajeva,  a 
village  49  kilometers  from  Tabinsk,  in  the  Government 
of  Orenburg.  A  large  cave.  Lepechin  found  ice  in  one 
part  of  the  cave  and  deep  water  in  another.  There  were 
draughts  in  some  places. 

CAVE  ON  THE  BAISLAN  TASCH.  (Lepechin,  Tagebuch  der 
Reise,  etc.,  II.,  page  40.) — The  Baislan  Tasch  is  a  moun- 
tain on  the  right  bank  of  the  Bielaja  River,  which  flows 
into  the  Kama.  There  is  a  large  cave  in  the  mountain 
in  which  ice  has  been  found. 

CAVE  ON  THE  MUINAK  TASCH.  (Lepechin,  Tagebuch  der 
Reise,  etc.,  II.,  page  38.) — The  Muinak  Tasch  is  a  moun- 
tain on  the  Bielaja  River.  There  is  a  large  cave  in  it,  in 
which  a  little  ice  has  been  found. 

CAVE  OF  KUNGUR.  (Lepechin,  Tagebuch  der  Reise,  etc., 
II.,  page  137  ;  Rosenmiiller  and  Tilesius,  I.,  page  79.) — The 
Cavern  of  Kungur  is  near  the  town  of  Kungur  in  the 
Government  of  Perm.  There  are  in  it  many  passages 
and  grottoes  connecting  with  one  another,  some  of  which 
contain  ice.  It  is  a  fine,  large  cave,  whose  greatest 
length  is  400  meters. 

MINES  OF  KIROBINSKOY.  (Fugger,  Eishoklen,  page  65 .) — 
These  mines  are  53  kilometers  southeast  of  Miask  in  the 
Ural ;  they  have  been  abandoned.  One  of  them  contains 
ice  all  the  year  round. 


LIST  OF  GLACIERES.  259 

CAVES  OF  ILLETZKAYA-ZATSCHITA.  (Murchison,  Vernieul 
and  Keyserling,  The  Geology  of  Russia  in  Europe  and  the 
Ural  Mountains,  1845,  VOL  !•»  Page  186.) — 72  kilometers 
southeast  from  Orenburg.  The  caves  are  in  the  Kraoulnai- 
gora,  a  gypsum  hillock  36  meters  high,  rising  in  the  midst 
of  an  undulating  steppe,  which  lies  on  a  vast  bed  of  rock 
salt.  Only  one  of  the  caves  contains  ice.  There  are 
strong  draughts  in  places. 

SIBERIA. 

CAVE  NEAR  THE  FORTRESS  KiTSCHiciNA.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
hohlen,  page  66.) — A  small  cave,  17  kilometers  east  of 
Kajilskoi,  192  kilometers  from  Petropaulowsk,  605  kilo- 
meters from  Tobolsk.  The  cave  is  in  an  open  plain,  and 
sometimes  contains  ice. 

WRECHNEJA  PETSCHERA.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  66.) — 
Near  the  village  Birjusinska,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kras- 
nojarsk,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Yenisei.  Large  glaciere 
cave. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  OF  BALAGANSK.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  66.) — A  narrow  cleft,  80  meters  long;  192  kilome- 
ters downstream  from  Irkutsk  on  the  left  bank  of  the  An- 
gora River ;  at  a  distance  of  2  kilometers  from  the  river. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  ON  THE  ONON  RIVER.  (Fugger,  Eis- 
hoklen,  page  66.) — A  small  cave ;  48  kilometers  from  the 
Borsja  Mountain. 


26O          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

MINES  OF  SIRANOWSK.  (Fugger,  Eishbhlen,  page 
126.) — In  the  Altai  Mountains,  on  the  Buchtorma  River, 
an  affluent  of  the  Irtysch.  Magnificent  ice  formations 
have  been  found  in  these  mines. 

MINES  OF  SEVENTUI.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen,  page  126.) — 
Near  Nertschinsk,  on  the  Amoor  River.  Two  of  the 
levels  contain  perennial  ice  and  hence  are  called  Ledenoi. 
These  are  at  a  depth  of  about  60  meters  in  porous  lava. 
The  rest  of  the  mine  is  in  more  solid  rock. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  NEAR  LURGIKAN.  (Fugger,  Eishohlen, 
page  67.) — Near  the  confluence  of  the  Lurgikan  and 
Schilka  Rivers,  in  the  province  Nertschinsk.  From  2 
meters  to  7  meters  wide.  Length  280  meters. 

BASINS  OR  TROUGHS  RETAINING  ICE.  (Dittmar,  Ueber 
die  Eismiilden  im  Ostlichen  Siberien  ;  Middendorff,  Zusatz  ; 
Bulletin  de  la  classe  physico-mathematique  de  I'  Academie  Im- 
periale  des  Sciences  de  St.  Petersbourg,  1853,  vol.  XI.,  pages 
305-316.) — These  troughs  are  nearly  akin  to  gprges  and 
gullies,  but  their  water  supply  seems  to  come  from  a 
cause  which  is  not  usually  present  in  gorges.  Their 
principal  observer,  M.  de  Dittmar,  thought  that  a  cold 
and  snowy  winter  would  add  materially  to  the  supply  of 
ice,  but  he  also  thought  that  a  necessity  to  the  existence 
of  the  ice  in  these  troughs  was  an  abundant  water  supply 
from  a  spring,  whose  temperature  should  be  so  high  as 
not  to  freeze  in  winter.  The  cold  is  supplied  by  the 


LIST  OF    GLACIERES.  26 1 

winter  temperatures.     Some  of  the  most  important  are 
reported — 

In  the  Turachtach  Valley. 

Near  Kapitanskji  Sasiek. 

In  the  valley  of  the  River  Belvi. 

In  the  valley  of  the  River  Antscha. 

In  the  Kintschen  Valley. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Kolymsk. 

In  the  Werchojanski  Mountains. 

In  the  Stanowaj  Mountains. 

KONDOOZ. 

CAVE  OF  YEERMALLIK.  (Burslem,  A  peep  into  Toorkis- 
than,  1846,  chaps.  X.,  XI.) — In  the  valley  of  the  Doaub, 
northwest  of  Kabul.  The  entrance  is  half  way  up  a  hill, 
and  is  about  15  meters  wide  and  15  meters  high.  This  is 
a  large  cave,  with  many  ramifications  and  galleries.  In 
the  centre  of  a  hall  far  within,  Captain  Burslem  found  a 
mass  of  clear  ice,  smooth  and  polished  as  a  mirror,  and 
in  the  form  of  a  beehive,  with  its  dome-shaped  top  just 
touching  the  long  icicles  which  depended  from  the 
jagged  surface  of  the  rock.  A  small  aperture  led  into 
the  interior  of  this  cone,  whose  walls  were  about  60 
centimeters  thick  and  which  was  divided  into  several 
compartments.  Some  distance  from  the  entrance  of  this 
cave  there  is  a  perpendicular  drop  of  5  meters.  A  short 
distance  beyond  this,  in  one  of  the  halls,  were  hundreds  of 
skeletons  of  men,  women  and  children,  in  a  perfectly  un- 
disturbed state,  also  the  prints  of  a  naked  human  foot  and 


262          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

the  distinct  marks  of  the  pointed  heel  of  an  Afghan  boot. 
The  moollah,  who  was  acting  as  guide,  said  the  skeletons 
were  the  remains  of  seven  hundred  men  of  the  Huzareh 
tribe  who  took  refuge  in  the  cave  with  their  wives  and 
children  during  the  invasion  of  Genghis  Khan,  and  who 
defended  themselves  so  stoutly,  that  after  trying  in  vain  to 
smoke  them  out,  the  invader  built  them  in  with  huge  nat- 
ural blocks  of  stone,  and  left  them  to  die  of  hunger.  Some 
of  the  Afghans  said  that  the  cave  was  inhabited  by 
Sheitan,  a  possibility  denied  by  the  moollah  who  guided 
Captain  Burslem,  on  the  philosophical  plea  that  the  cave 
was  too  cold  for  such  an  inhabitant. 

HIMALAYA. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  OF  AMARNATH.  (Miss  Mary  Coxe  of 
Philadelphia  showed  me  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  Dr.  Wil- 
helmine  Eger  describing  a  visit  to  this  cave.) — It  lies  three 
days'  journey  from  Pailgam  in  Kashmere,  on  the  borders 
of  Little  Tibet.  The  altitude  is  evidently  high  as  one 
crosses  snow  fields  to  get  to  it.  A  small  path  zigzagging 
up  a  grassy  slope  leads  to  the  cave  and  is  a  stiff  climb 
from  the  valley.  The  cave  opens  on  the  side  of  a  moun- 
tain and  has  a  large,  almost  square  mouth  at  least  as  big 
as  the  floor  area  within.  The  floor  of  the  cave  is  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  grass  slope  and  slants  upwards  and  back- 
wards to  the  back  wall,  the  only  case  of  the  kind  so  far 
reported.  This  cave  is  most  curiously  connected  with  re- 
ligion. Dr.  Eger  says  that  there  are  two  small  blocks  of 
ice  in  it  which  never  melt.  From  time  immemorial  these 


LIST  OF    GLACIERES.  263 

blocks  of  ice  have  been  sacred  to  the  Hindoos  who  wor- 
ship them — as  re-incarnations — under  the  names  of  Shiva 
and  Ganesh.  Dr.  Eger  saw  offerings  of  rice  and  flowers 
on  them.  Thousands  of  pilgrims  come  every  year  at  the 
end  of  July  or  beginning  of  August  from  all  parts  of 
India.  Thousands  of  miles  have  been  traversed  and  hun- 
dreds of  lives  laid  down  through  this  journey.  Every 
year  people  die  either  before  reaching  the  cave  or  after. 
The  trip  from  Pailgam  in  Kashmere  takes  three  days  up 
and  two  days  down,  if  one  returns  by  a  shorter  route 
where  the  way  is  unsafe  because  of  avalanches.  So  many 
have  perished  there  that  the  pass  is  called  "The  Way  of 
Death."  This  must  be  taken  by  one  class  of  pilgrims, 
Sardhas  or  Holy  Men,  to  complete  the  sacred  circuit, 
but  the  Hindoos  say  any  one  dying  on  the  pass  will  go 
straight  to  heaven. 

ICICLES  FORMED  BY  RADIATION.  (General  Sir  Richard 
Strachey,  Geographical  Journal,  1900,  vol.  XV.,  page 
1 68.) — On  the  Balch  pass  of  the  Balch  range  in  Tibet, 
General  Strachey,  in  1848,  saw  icicles  of  which  he  says: 
"  On  the  rocks  exposed  to  the  south  were  very  curious 
incrustations  of  ice,  icicles  indeed,  but  standing  out  hori- 
zontally like  fingers  towards  the  wind.  I  was  not  able  to 
understand  how  they  were  caused,  nor  can  I  tell  why  they 
were  confined  to  particular  spots.  The  thermometer  stood 
at  41°  [F.],  and  though  the  dew  point  at  the  time  would 
probably  have  been  below  32°  [F.],  and  the  cold  pro- 
duced by  evaporation  sufficient  therefore  to  freeze  water, 


264          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

yet  it  is  evident  that  no  condensation  could  ever  take 
place  simultaneously  with  the  evaporation.  *  *  *  It 
has  since  occurred  to  me  that  these  icicles  were  formed 
by  radiation.  I  found,  subsequently,  in  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar position,  that  a  thermometer  suspended  vertically,  and 
simply  exposed  to  the  sky  in  front  of  it,  was  depressed  as 
much  as  20°  F.  below  the  true  temperature  of  the  sur- 
rounding air.  This  result  was,  of  course,  due  to  the 
radiation  through  the  extremely  dry  and  rarefied  atmos- 
phere at  the  great  elevation  at  which  the  thermometer 
was  exposed.  As  radiation  takes  place  freely  from  a 
surface  of  ice,  the  growth  of  such  icicles  as  those  described 
might  be  due  to  the  condensation  of  vapour  brought  up 
by  the  southerly  day  winds  that  so  constantly  blow  over 
these  passes,  and  its  accumulation  in  the  form  of  ice  on 
the  exposed  extremity  of  the  icicle,  the  temperature  of 
which  might  thus  have  been  greatly  reduced." 

INDIA. 

ICE  FORMED  BY  RADIATION.  (T.  A.  Wise,  Nature, 
vol.  V.,  page  189;  R.  H.  Scott,  Elementary  Meteorology, 
Third  Ed.,  pages  61,  62.) — Mr.  Bunford  Samuel  called 
my  attention  to  the  mode  of  manufacturing  ice  by  radia- 
tion in  India.  It  is  as  follows : — 

"A  very  practical  use  of  nocturnal  radiation  has  been 
made  from  time  immemorial  in  India  in  the  preparation 
of  ice,  and  on  such  a  scale  that  about  10  tons  of  ice  can 
be  procured  in  a  single  night  from  twenty  beds  of  the 
dimensions  about  to  be  given,  when  the  temperature  of 


LIST   OF   GLAClfeRES.  265 

the  air  is  15°  or  20°  [F.]  above  the  freezing  point. 
*  *  *  The  locality  referred  to  is  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  Calcutta.  A  rectangular  piece  of  ground 
is  marked  out,  lying  east  and  west,  and  measuring  120 
by  20  feet.  This  is  excavated  to  the  depth  of  two  feet 
and  filled  with  rice  straw  rather  loosely  laid,  to  within  six 
inches  of  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  ice  is  formed 
in  shallow  dishes  of  porous  earthenware,  and  the  amount 
of  water  placed  in  each  is  regulated  by  the  amount  of  ice 
expected. 

"  In  the  cold  weather,  when  the  temperature  of  the  air 
at  the  ice  fields  is  under  50°,  ice  is  formed  in  the  dishes. 
The  freezing  is  most  active  with  N.  N.  W.  airs,  as  these 
are  driest;  it  ceases  entirely  with  southerly  or  easterly 
airs,  even  though  their  temperature  may  be  lower  than 
that  of  the  N.  N.  W.  wind. 

"  No  ice  is  formed  if  the  wind  is  sufficiently  strong  to 
be  called  a  breeze,  for  the  air  is  not  left  long  enough  at 
rest,  above  the  bed,  for  its  temperature  to  fall  sufficiently, 
by  the  action  of  radiation. 

"The  rice  straw,  being  kept  loose  and  perfectly  dry, 
cuts  off  the  access  of  heat  from  the  surface  of  the  ground 
below  it,  and,  when  the  sun  goes  down,  the  straw  being  a 
powerful  radiator,  the  temperature  of  the  air  in  contact 
with  the  dishes  is  reduced  some  20°  below  that  prevailing 
some  two  or  three  feet  above  them.  The  rapid  evapora- 
tion of  the  water  into  the  dry  air  above  creates  also  an 
active  demand  for  heat  to  be  rendered  latent  in  the  forma- 
tion of  steam,  and  the  result  of  all  these  agencies  is  the 


266          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

formation  of  ice,  under  favorable  circumstances,   on    the 
extensive  scale  above  mentioned." 

KOREA. 

GLACIERE  CAVE  ON  THE  HAN  GANG. — Messrs.  J.  Edward 
Farnum  and  George  L.  Farnum,  of  Philadelphia,  inform  me 
that  they  saw  a  small  cave  containing  ice  on  the  banks  of 
one  of  the  Korean  rivers.  It  is  about  75  kilometers  from 
Seoul,  nearly  northeast,  near  the  ferry  where  the  old  road 
leading  from  Seoul  towards  northern  Korea  crosses  the 
Han  Gang,  the  river  which  passes  by  Seoul.  The  en- 
trance is  small ;  perhaps  2  meters  wide.  The  cave  is  not 
thoroughly  explored.  Ice  lies  near  the  entrance,  and  as 
far  back  as  the  Messrs.  Farnum  could  see. 

JAPAN. 

GLACIERE  LAVA  CAVE  NEAR  SHOJI.  (Evening  Telegraph, 
Philadelphia,  January  2d,  1896.) — The  cave  is  about  12 
kilometers  from  Shoji,  and  is  in  lava.  First  there  is  a  pit 
in  the  forest,  some  5  meters  wide  by  15  meters  deep.  The 
cave  opens  into  this.  It  seems  to  be  some  400  meters 
long  and  from  2  meters  to  12  meters  high.  There  is  an 
ice  floor  in  places,  also  many  ice  stalagmites.  At  the 
furthest  point  reached  there  is  a  strong  air  current,  which 
extinguishes  torches  and  so  far  has  prevented  further  ex- 
ploration. Ice  from  the  cave  has  been  cut  by  the  country 
people  for  sale  at  Kofu,  which  is  not  far  distant. 


PART   IV 


SOME  OPINIONS  ABOUT  GLACIERES. 


SOME  OPINIONS  ABOUT  GLACIERES. 


Benigne  Poissenot,  in  1586,  hinted  that  the  cold  of 
winter  produced  the  ice  at  Chaux-les-Passavant.69 

Reichard  Strein  and  Christoph  Schallenberger  visited 
the  caves  on  the  Otscher  in  i59i.70 

Gollut,  in  1592,  suggested  the  cold  of  winter  as  the 
cause  of  the  ice  at  Chaux-les-Passavant.71 

In  the  Histoire  de  r  Academie  Royale  des  Sciences,  1686, 
Tome  II.,  pages  2,  3,  there  is  an  account,  with  no  author's 
name,  of  Chaux-les-Passavant.  The  memoir  states  that 
in  winter  the  cave  is  filled  with  thick  vapors  and  that  after 
some  trees  were  cut  down  near  the  entrance,  the  ice  was 
less  abundant  than  formerly:  that  people  come  for  ice 
with  carts  and  mules,  but  that  the  ice  does  not  become 
exhausted,  for  one  day  of  great  heat  forms  more  ice  than 
could  be  carried  away  in  eight  days  in  carts  and  wagons : 
and  that  when  a  fog  forms  in  the  cave,  there  is  assuredly 
rain  the  following  day,  and  that  the  peasants  in  the  neigh- 
borhood consult  this  curious  "  almanac "  to  know  the 
weather  which  is  coming. 


69  See  Part  III.  :  page  193. 

70  See  Part  III.  :  page  231. 

71  See  Part  III. :  page  202. 

(269) 


270         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Freiherr  Valvasor,  in  1689,  wrote  about  some  of  the 
glacieres  of  the  Krain.72 

Behrens,  in  1703,  thought  it  was  colder  in  summer 
than  in  winter  in  the  caves  near  Questenberg  in  the  Harz. 

M.  de  Billerez,  in  1712,  writes  that  at  Chaux-les-Passa- 
vant  it  is  really  colder  in  summer  than  in  winter ;  and  that 
the  ice  is  harder  than  river  ice,  and  this  he  thinks  is  due 
to  the  presence  of  a  nitrous  or  ammoniacal  salt,  which 
he  says  he  found  in  the  rocks. 

M.  de  Boz  made  four  trips  to  Chaux-les-Passavant  on 
the  1 5th  of  May  and  8th  of  November,  1725  ;  and  the  8th 
of  March  and  2Oth  of  August,  1726.  His  memoir  says 
that  his  observations  tend  to  disprove  those  of  M.  de 
Billerez,  and  that  "the  cause  for  the  great  cold,  which  is 
less  great  in  summer,  although  always  remaining,  is  quite 
natural."  He  cites  as  causes  for  the  ice  the  exposure  to 
the  north-north-east;  the  rock  portal  sheltering  the  en- 
trance, and  all  the  forest  covering  the  surrounding  lands  ; 
and  adds  that  some  veracious  persons  told  him  that  since 
some  of  the  big  trees  above  the  grotto  had  been  cut 
down  there  was  less  ice  than  before.  He  found  no  traces 
of  salt,  nor  any  springs,  and  that  the  water  supply  came 
from  the  rains  and  melted  snows  filtering  through  the 
ground. 

72  See  Part  III.  :  pages  238,  239. 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  271 

In   1739,  Matthias  Bel  published  his  curious  account 
of  Szilize.73 


J.  N.  Nagel,  a  Vienna  mathematician,  visited  the 
Otscher  in  1747.  He  concluded  that  the  ice  was  made 
in  winter  and  preserved  in  summer  as  in  an  ice  house. 

M.  de  Cossigny  wrote,  in  1750,  about  Chaux-les-Passa- 
vant.  He  made  a  plan  of  the,  cave  and  took  many  obser- 
vations in  April,  August  and  October,  and  concluded 
that  the  interior  condition  of  the  cave  does  not  change 
noticeably  from  winter  to  summer,  no  matter  what  the 
external  conditions  of  temperature  may  be ;  that  what 
people  say  of  greater  cold  in  summer,  vanishes  before 
actual  experience  and  that,  as  a  state  of  freezing  reigns 
more  or  less  continuously  in  the  cave,  it  is  not  surprising 
if  the  ice  accumulates.  Apparently  he  was  the  first  to 
notice  and  insist  on  the  necessity  of  .drainage  to  the  cave 
through  cracks  in  the  rocks.  He  also  made  a  series  of 
observations  disproving  those  of  M.  de  Billerez,  as  to  the 
presence  of  any  kinds  of  salts  in  the  rocks  or  ice. 

Hacquet,  in  1778,  thought  that  the  ice  in  the  cave  at 
Lazhnagora  formed  in  winter,  but  he  also  thought  that 
there  must  undoubtedly  be  some  salt  in  the  water.  He 
says  he  found  ice  in  the  cave  in  the  spring,  and  that  his 
companion,  a  priest,  had  never  found  any  in  winter.  He 
therefore  concluded  that  by  that  time  it  had  all  melted. 

78  See  Part  III. :  page  254. 


272  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

Remain  Joly,  in  1779,  claims  to  have  visited  Chaux-les- 
Passavant  on  the  i9th  of  September  (year  not  given).  His 
account  seems  largely  borrowed  from  the  one  in  the 
Histoire  de  r  Academic  Roy  ale  des  Sciences,  in  1686.  He 
says:  "This  ice  is  formed  by  the  drops  of  water  which 
fall  from  the  roof,  and  which  freeze  because  of  the  chill 
of  the  cave.  In  the  winter  there  is  no  ice,  but  running 
water."  He  says  nothing,  however,  about  the  ice  form- 
ing in  summer. 

The  Citoyen  Girod-Chan trans  visited  Chaux-les-Passa- 
vant  in  August,  1783,  and  reached  the  conclusion,  from  all 
he  saw  and  heard,  that  the  cave  did  not  freeze  in  summer 
nor  thaw  in  winter,  and  that  it  was  really  a  natural  ice 
house.  He  was  aided  by  the  notes  of  a  neighboring 
physician,  Dr.  Oudot,  who  had  made  observations  in  the 
cave,  and  among  others,  had  placed  stakes  of  wood,  on 
the  8th  of  January,  1779,  in  the  heads  of  the  columns  he 
had  found  in  the  cave;  and  on  the  22d  of  February,  1780, 
had  found  these  stakes  completely  covered  with  ice,  form- 
ing columns  30  centimeters  in  diameter. 

Hablizl,  in  1788,  wrote  that  the  ice  in  the  cave  near 
Karassoubazar  formed  in  the  spring  by  the  snows  which 
melt,  run  into  the  cave,  and  refreeze.  He  also  thought 
that  there  was  less  ice  there  in  the  fall  than  in  the  spring, 
that  it  diminishes  in  July  and  August,  and  that  the  idea, 
current  in  the  neighborhood,  of  the  formation  of  ice  in 
summer,  is  a  mistake. 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  273 

Professor  Pierre  Prevost,  in  1789,  gave  an  accurate 
explanation  of  the  formation  of  the  ice  in  Chaux-les-Passa- 
vant.  He  says  :  "  Weighing  carefully  the  local  circum- 
stances, one  discovers  in  truth  a  few  causes  of  permanent 
cold.  But  these  causes  seem  rather  suited  to  keep  up  a 
great  freshness  or  to  diminish  the  heat  of  summer,  than  to 
produce  a  cold  such  as  that  which  reigns  in  the  cavern. 
First  of  all,  big  trees  throw  shade  over  the  entrance ;  it  is, 
I  was  told,  forbidden  under  severe  penalties  to  cut  down 
any  of  them,  for  fear  of  depriving  the  grotto  of  a  necessary 
shelter.  In  the  second  place,  this  entrance  is  situated 
almost  due  north,  leaning  a  little  to  the  east,  which  is  the 
coolest  exposure  one  can  choose,  and  the  one  most  suited 
to  help  the  effect  of  the  icy  winds  which  blow  from  that 
quarter.  Finally  the  slope  is  steep  and  the  grotto  deep 
and  covered  with  a  thick  vault.  These  three  conditions 
united  constitute,  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  very  good  ice  house; 
by  which  I  mean  a  reservoir  fit  to  preserve  during  the 
summer,  the  ice  which  may  bank  up  in  winter. 

"But  how  does  this  ice  bank  up?  One  knows  that 
the  outside  waters  above  form  on  the  roof,  during  the  win- 
ter, long  drops  and  stalactites  of  ice.  These  icicles,  which 
hang  down  and  increase  constantly  by  the  drip  from  the 
same  source  which  formed  them,  fall  at  last,  carried  away 
by  their  own  weight,  and  form  so  many  centres,  around 
which  freeze  the  waters  with  which  the  floor  of  the  grotto 
is  always  inundated.  At  the  same  time,  the  blowing  of 
the  north  wind  accumulates  snow  at  the  base  of  the  slope, 
which  is  uncovered  in  part  and  exposed  above  to  all  the 


274          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

vicissitudes  of  the  weather.  Thus  during  the  winter  is 
formed  an  irregular  heap  of  ice  and  snow,  which  the  first 
heats  of  spring  begin  to  make  run,  but  which  the  heats  of 
summer  cannot  finish  dissolving.  The  winter  following 
has  therefore  even  more  facility  to  augment  the  mass  of 
these  ice  pyramids,  which  have  resisted  until  the  fall.  And 
if  men  did  not  work  at  diminishing  it,  it  might  happen  that 
it  would  fill  the  entire  cavern  at  last  to  a  great  height. 

"  I  am  therefore  strongly  inclined  to  think  that  the 
process  of  nature  is  here  precisely  similar  to  that  of  art ; 
that  without  any  especial  cause  of  cold,  the  natural  gla- 
ciere  of  Besan^on  conserves  in  the  moderate  temperature 
of  deep  caverns,  the  heaps  of  snow  and  ice  which  the 
winds  and  the  outside  waters  accumulate  there  during 
the  winter;  and  that  the  melting  of  these  snows  and  of 
these  accumulated  ices  forms  little  by  little  the  ice  floor, 
scattered  over  with  blocks  and  pyramids,  which  one  ob- 
serves there  during  the  summer." 

Horace  Benedict  de  Saussure,  the  great  Swiss  scien- 
tist and  mountaineer,  in  1796,  published  a  number  of  ob- 
servations about  cold  current  caves  in  various  parts  of  the 
Alps.  He  found  that  in  summer  the  air  blows  outward 
at  the  lower  end,  and  that  in  winter  it  draws  inward.  His 
explanation  is  that  in  summer  the  colder  air  in  the  tube  is 
heavier  than  the  outside  air  and  displaces  it  by  gravity ; 
while  in  winter  the  rupture  takes  place  in  the  other  direc- 
tion, since  the  column  within  the  tube  is  warmer  than  the 
outside  air  and  therefore  is  pushed  upwards  by  the  heavy 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  275 

air  flowing  in.  He  concludes  that  evaporation  due  to  the 
air  passing  internally  over  moist  rocks  suffices  to  explain 
the  phenomenon  of  low  temperatures  and  that  such  caves 
have  a  rather  lower  temperature  in  the  Alps  than  in  Italy 
owing  to  the  greater  natural  cold  of  the  Swiss  lake  region. 
An  experiment  of  his  is  worth  mentioning.  He  passed  a 
current  of  air  through  a  glass  tube,  2.5  centimeters  in 
diameter,  filled  with  moistened  stones,  and  found  that  the 
air  current  which  entered  with  a  temperature  of  22.5° 
came  out  with  a  temperature  of  18.75°,  tnat  is  with  a  l°ss 
of  3.75°  of  heat. 

Robert  Townson,  LL.  D.,  in  1797,  published  an  ac- 
count, perhaps  the  first  in  English,  of  a  glaciere  cave. 
He  says  of  Szilize :  "  Ice  I  truly  found  here  in  abundance, 
and  it  was  midsummer,  but  in  a  state  of  thaw ;  the  bed  of 
ice,  which  covered  the  floor  of  the  cavern  was  thinly  cov- 
ered with  water  and  everything  announced  a  thaw.  I  had 
no  need  to  use  my  thermometer:  however  I  placed  it  in 
the  ice  and  it  fell  to  o°  of  Reaumur :  I  then  wiped  it  and 
placed  it  in  a  niche  in  the  rock,  at  the  furthest  part  of  the 
cavern,  a  yard  above  the  ice  and  here  it  remained  near  an 
hour :  when  I  returned  I  found  it  at  o°.  *  *  *  Every- 
thing therefore,  ice,  water  and  atmosphere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood had  the  same  temperature,  and  that  was  the  tem- 
perature of  melting  ice  :  o°  Reaumur. 

"When  then  is  the  ice  which  is  found  here,  and  in 
such  quantities  that  this  cavern  serves  the  few  opulent 
nobility  in  the  neighborhood  as  an  ice  house,  formed? 


276  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Surely  in  winter,  though  not  by  the  first  frost,  not  so  soon 
as  ice  is  formed  in  the  open  air.  No  doubt,  from  the 
little  communication  this  cavern  has  with  the  atmosphere, 
it  will  be  but  little  and  slowly  affected  by  the  change. 
Should  therefore,  Mr.  Bel,  or  any  of  his  friends,  have 
come  here  to  verify  the  common  report  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  severe  frost,  when  the  whole  country  was  cov- 
ered with  ice  and  snow,  they  might  still  have  found 
nothing  here  but  water,  or  the  ice  of  the  preceding  winter 
in  a  state  of  thaw,  and  the  cavern  relatively  warm ;  and 
likewise,  should  they  have  visited  it  in  a  warm  spring, 
which  had  succeeded  to  a  severe  winter,  they  might  have 
found  nothing  here  but  frost  and  ice ;  and  even  the  fresh 
melted  snow,  percolating  through  the  roof  of  this  cavern, 
might  again  have  been  congealed  to  ice.  I  observed  fre- 
quently in  Germany  in  the  severe  winter  of  1794-5,  on  a 
sudden  thaw,  that  the  walls  of  churches  and  other  public 
buildings,  on  the  outside  were  white  and  covered  with  a 
hoar  frost,  and  the  windows  on  the  same  side  covered 
with  a  rime." 

Dr.  Franz  Sartori,  in  1 809,  was  a  strong  believer  in  the 
summer  ice  theory,  and  wrote  of  the  flies  and  the  gnats, 
the  bats  and  the  owls,  and  the  foxes  and  the  hares  coming 
to  Szilize  to  winter. 

Alexander  von  Humboldt,  in  1814,  says  about  the  Cu- 
eva  del  Hielo  on  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  that  so  much  snow 
and  ice  are  stored  up  in  winter  that  the  summer  heat 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  277 

cannot  melt  it  all,  and  also  adds  that  permanent  snow  in 
caves  must  depend  more  on  the  amount  of  winter  snow, 
and  the  freedom  from  hot  winds,  than  on  the  absolute 
altitude  of  the  cave. 

Dewey,  in  1819,  thought  that  the  ice  in  the  Snow  Glen 
at  Williamstown  was  a  winter  formation. 

Professor  M.  A.  Pictet  visited  Saint-Georges,  Le  Brezon 
and  Montarquis  and  in  1822  endeavored  to  prove  that 
they  are  cold  current  caves  and  that  the  ice  in  them  is  due 
entirely  to  draughts  causing  evaporation.  He  believed  in 
the  theory  of  the  ice  forming  in  summer  more  than  in  win- 
ter and  that  it  could  not  be  the  residue  of  a  winter  deposit. 
He  therefore  argued  that  it  must  be  due  to  descending 
currents  of  air  which  he  thought  would  be  most  energetic 
in  summer ;  that  they  would  become  at  least  as  low  as  the 
mean  annual  temperature  of  the  place  and  be  still  further 
cooled  by  evaporation.  The  strange  thing  about  his  theo- 
ries is  that  he  does  not  seem  to  have  personally  observed 
any  draughts  either  at  Saint-Georges  or  Le  Brezon,  but 
the  fact  that  the  ice  was  evidently  not  an  accumulation  of 
winter  snow  led  him  to  try  to  reconcile  what  he  had  him- 
self seen  with  de  Saussure's  theories  about  windholes. 

Jean  Andre  Deluc  in  1822  published  a  paper  discuss- 
ing the  theories  of  MM.  de  Cossigny,  Prevost  and  Pictet. 
Deluc  had  never  visited  a  glaciere  himself,  but  he  explains 
clearly  the  impossibility  of  Professor  Pictet's  cold  current 


278         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

theory,  on  the  simple  ground  that  Professor  Pictet  himself 
did  not  find  any  cold  currents.  He  takes  up  Professor 
Prevost's  theories  warmly ;  using  also  the  manuscript 
notes  of  Mons.  Colladon  who  had  visited  the  Grand  Cave 
de  Montarquis.  Deluc  says:  "that  the  winter's  cold  pen- 
etrates into  these  caves,  freezes  the  water  which  collects 
there  and  that  the  ice  thus  formed  has  not  the  time  to 
melt  during  the  following  summer."  He  says  further : 
"  It  seems  that  in  the  three  glacieres  with  which  we  have 
been  occupied  there  is  a  flat  or  rather  hollow  bottom, 
where  the  waters  can  form  a  more  or  less  deep  pond,  and 
whence  they  therefore  cannot  flow  away ;  it  is  there  they 
flow  in  winter ;  and  as  these  are  shut  in  places  where  the 
air  cannot  circulate,  the  heats  of  summer  can  only  penetrate 
very  feebly.  The  ice  once  formed  in  such  cavities,  only 
melts  slowly ;  for  one  knows  that  ice  in  melting,  absorbs 
60°  of  heat ;  and  where  find  this  heat  in  an  air  always  very 
cold  and  nearly  still  ?  During  a  great  cold,  the  ice  forms 
with  great  promptness,  while  it  melts  with  much  slowness, 
even  when  the  temperature  of  the  air  is  several  degrees 
above  zero ;  what  must  then  not  be  this  slowness  when 
the  temperature  of  the  interior  air  only  rises  in  summer 
one  degree  above  freezing  point.  It  would  need  several 
summers  to  melt  this  ice  if  it  did  not  reform  each  winter." 

C.  A.  Lee,  in  1825,  wrote  that  the  ice  in  the  Wolfs- 
hollow  near  Salisbury  was  a  winter  formation. 

G.  Poulett  Scrope,  in  1826,  accepted  as  the  truth  the 
statement  that  the  cave    of   Roth  was  filled  with  ice  in 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  279 

summer,  but  that  it  was  warm  during  the  winter.  In  1827, 
he  explained  the  presence  of  v  ice  at  Pontgibaud  as  follows: 
"  The  water  is  apparently  frozen  by  means  of  the  power- 
ful evaporation  produced  by  a  current  of  very  dry  air  is- 
suing from  some  long  fissures  or  arched  galleries  which 
communicate  with  the  cave,  and  owing  its  dryness  to  the 
absorbent  qualities  of  the  lava  through  which  it  passes." 

F.  Reich,  in  1834,  thought  that  there  were  two  possible 
causes  which  might  produce  subterranean  ice :  i ,  the  dif- 
ference in  specific  gravity  between  warm  and  cold  air ;  2, 
evaporation.  He  thought  the  cold  air  a  sufficient  cause  in 
most  caves,  but  he  considered  that  evaporation  also  played 
a  part  not  infrequently. 

Professor  Silliman,  in  1839,  gave  the  first  hint,  in  the 
negative,  about  compressed  air  as  a  cause  for  subterranean 
ice.  He  said  about  Owego  that  if  one  could  suppose  that 
compressed  gases  or  a  compressed  atmosphere  were  es- 
caping from  the  water  or  near  it,  this  would  indicate  a 
source  of  cold,  but  that  as  there  is  no  indication  of  this 
in  the  water,  the  explanation  is  unavailable. 

Professor  A.  Pleischl  wrote  in  1841  that  he  was  told 
that  ice  formed  on  the  Pleschiwetz  and  on  the  Steinberge 
in  summer.  Continuing,  he  says  :  •'  The  author  is  there- 
fore, as  well  as  for  other  reasons,  of  the  opinion,  that 
the  ice  is  not  remaining  winter  ice,  but  a  summer 
formation,  and  one  formed  by  the  cold  of  evaporation. 
*  *  *  The  basalt  is,  as  a  thick  stone,  a  good  conductor 


280         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

for  the  heat,  and  takes  up  therefore  easily  the  sun's 
warmth,  but  parts  with  it  easily  to  other  neighboring 
bodies.  In  the  hollows,  between  the  basalt  blocks,  is 
found,  as  I  already  mentioned,  rotting  moss,  which  forms 
a  spongy  mass,  which  is  wet  through  with  water.  The 
basalt  heated  by  the  sun's  rays  now  causes  a  part  of 
the  water  in  the  spongy  mass  to  vaporize ;  for  this 
evaporation  the  water  needs  heat,  which  it  withdraws 
from  the  neighboring  bodies  and  in  part  from  water, 
and  makes  the  water  so  cold,  that  it  freezes  into  ice,  as, 
under  the  bell  of  an  air  pump — Nature  therefore  makes 
here  a  physical  experiment  on  the  largest  scale." 

Much  stress  appears  to  have  been  laid  on  the  paper 
of  Professor  Pleischl  by  Professor  Krauss  and  one  or  two 
others.  The  weak  point  in  it  is  that  Pleischl  did  not  see 
the  ice  form  in  summer,  but  was  only,  as  usual,  told  that 
it  did  so.  There  is  nothing  in  the  facts  given  to  show 
that  the  places  mentioned  are  different  from  any  other 
taluses,  where  ice  does  not  form  as  the  result  of  heat. 

Mr.  C.  B.  Hayden,  in  1843,  wrote  about  the  Ice  Moun- 
tain in  Virginia,  and  held  that  the  porous  nature  of  the 
rocks  makes  them  poor  conductors  of  heat,  and  that  the 
mountain  is  a  huge  sandstone  refrigerator. 

Dr.  S.  Pearl  Lathrop,  in  1844,  wrote  of  the  Ice  Bed 
at  Wallingford,  Vermont,  as  a  great  natural  refrigerator. 

Sir  Roderick  Impey  Murchison  wrote  in  1845  about 
the  salt  mine  and  freezing  cave  of  Illetzkaya-Zatschita. 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  28 1 

He  visited  them  during  a  hot  August,  and  was  assured 
that  the  cold  within  is  greatest  when  the  external  air 
is  hottest  and  driest ;  that  the  fall  of  rain  and  a  moist 
atmosphere  produce  some  diminution  in  the  cold  of  the 
cave  and  that  on  the  setting  in  of  winter  the  ice  disap- 
pears entirely.  He  accepted  these  statements  evidently 
only  in  a  half  hearted  way,  submitting  them  to  Sir  John 
Herschel,  who  tried  to  explain  them,  in  case  they  were 
true,  of  which  Herschel  was  likewise  doubtful.  Murchi- 
son  at  first  thought  that  the  ice  was  due  to  the  under- 
lying bed  of  salt,  but  soon  recognized  that  this  explana- 
tion could  not  be  correct.  He  also  rejected  Herschel's 
"heat  and  cold  wave"  theory.  Shortly  after  this  he  came 
across  Pictet's  memoir,  and  on  the  strength  of  it  concluded 
that  the  ice  in  Illetzkaya-Zatschita  could  not  be  the  residue 
of  a  winter  deposit,  but  must  be  due  to  descending  cur- 
rents of  air ;  to  the  previously  wet  and  damp  roof  afford- 
ing a  passage  to  water;  and  to  the  excessive  dryness  of 
the  external  air  of  these  southern  steppes  contributing 
powerfully  to  the  refrigerating  effects  of  evaporation. 

Professor  Arnold  Guyot,  in  1856,  said  that  the  well  at 
Owego  admitted  large  quantities  of  snow  which  melts,  but 
not  readily,  because  it  is  not  accessible  to  the  sun.  It 
therefore  goes  through  the  same  process  as  glaciers,  of 
partly  melting  and  refreezing ;  and  we  have  the  formation 
of  a  glacier  without  movement. 

Professor  W.  B.  Rogers,  in  1856,  held  that  the  well  at 
Owego  became  the  recipient  of  the  coldest  air  of  the 


282  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

neighborhood,  and  the  temperature  remained  abnormal 
because  the  bad  conducting  power  of  the  materials  of 
the  well  retained  the  cold. 

Professor  D.  Olmstead,  in  1856,  held  about  Owego 
that  cold  air  exists  in  the  interior  of  the  earth  which  may 
have  found  a  ventilating  shaft  in  the  well. 

Professor  Petruzzi,  in  1857,  considered  the  following 
requirements  necessary  for  a  glaciere :  A  high  altitude 
above  the  sea;  a  decided  drop  into  the  interior  of  the 
mountain ;  absence  of  all  draught ;  protection  against  all 
warm  and  moist  winds,  therefore  the  opening  to  north 
and  east.  He  also  says  about  the  glaciere  on  the  Pograca: 
that  it  is  in  shadow ;  that  the  thick  forest  round  the  mouth 
keeps  the  temperature  down ;  that  it  begins  to  freeze 
below  when  it  does  above ;  that  the  cold  remains  there 
into  the  spring;  and  that  the  water  from  rain  or  other 
sources,  which  flows  into  the  cave,  must  freeze  there,  and 
the  ice  form  in  greater  quantities  than  the  heat  of  summer 
can  melt  away. 

Mr.  Albert  D.  Hager  wrote  in  1859:  "The  question 
now  arises,  why  it  was  that  such  a  congealed  mass  of 
earth  was  found  in  Brandon  at  the  time  the  frozen  well 
was  dug.  My  opinion  is,  that  the  bad  conducting  prop- 
erty of  the  solids  surrounding  it,  the  absence  of  ascending 
currents  of  heated  air,  and  of  subterranean  streams  of 
water  in  this  particular  locality  favored  such  a  result ;  and 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  283 

that  the  bad  conducting  property  of  clay,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  porous  gravel  associated  with  it,  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  highly  inclined  porous  strata,  and  the  dis- 
position of  heated  air  to  rise,  and  the  cold  air  to  remain 
below,  contribute  to  produce  in  the  earth,  at  this  place,  a 
'mammoth  refrigerator,  embracing  essentially  the  same 
principle  as  that  involved  in  the  justly  celebrated  refriger- 
ator known  as  '  Winship's  Patent.' 

"  Clay  is  not  only  nearly  impervious  to  air  and  water, 
but  it  is  one  of  the  worst  conductors  of  heat  in  nature. 
(NOTE. — To  test  the  question  whether  clay  was  a  poor 
conductor  of  heat  or  not,  I  took  two  basins  of  equal  size, 
and  in  one  put  a  coating  of  clay  one-half  inch  thick,  into 
which  I  put  water  of  a  temperature  of  52°  Fahrenheit. 
Into  the  other  dish,  which  was  clean,  I  put  water  of  the 
same  temperature,  and  subjected  the  two  basins  to  equal 
amounts  of  heat ;  and  in  five  minutes  the  water  in  the 
clean  dish  indicated  a  temperature  of  70°  while  that  of  the 
one  coated  with  clay  was  raised  only  to  56°.)  If  we  can 
rely  upon  the  statements  of  those  who  dug  out  the  frozen 
earth,  it  rested  upon  a-  stratum  of  clay  that  lay  upon  the 
bed  of  pebbles  in  which  the  water  was  found,  for  it  was 
described  as  being  a  very  sticky  kind  of  hard  pan. 

"  This  being  the  case,  if  the  water  contained  in  the 
pebbly  mass  had  a  temperature  above  the  freezing  point, 
the  heat  would  be  but  imperfectly  transmitted  to  the  frost, 
through  the  clay,  provided  there  was  no  other  way  for  its 
escape.  But  we  have  seen  that  the  stratum  of  clay  that 
overlays  the  bed  of  pebbles  in  the  side  of  the  gravel  pit 


284         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

was  not  horizontal,  but  inclined  towards  the  well  at  an 
angle  of  25°.  Now  if  this  drip  was  continued  to  the  well, 
and  existed  there  (which  is  highly  probable),  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  ascending  current  of  heated  air,  in  the 
pebbly  bed,  would  be  checked  upon  meeting  the  over- 
lying barrier  of  clay  and  be  deflected  out  of  its  upward 
course.  The  tendency  of  heated  air  is  to  rise,  hence  it 
would  continue  its  course  along  the  under  side  of  the 
clay,  through  the  interstices  in  the  bed  of  pebbles,  till  it 
found  a  place  of  escape  at  the  surface,  which  in  this  case 
may  have  been  at  the  gravel  pit  before  named." 

Professor  Edward  Hitchcock  wrote  in  1861  :  "The 
presence  of  a  mass  of  frozen  gravel  deep  beneath  the  sur- 
face in  Brandon,  was  first  made  known  by  digging  a  well 
in  it  in  the  autumn  of  1858.  *  *  *  The  gravel,  also, 
rises  into  occasional  knolls  and  ridges.  In  short,  it  is  just 
such  a  region  of  sand  and  gravel  as  may  be  seen  in  many 
places  along  the  western  side  of  the  Green  Mountains ; 
and  indeed,  all  over  New  England.  It  is  what  we  call 
modified  drift,  and  lies  above  genuine  drift,  having  been 
the  result  of  aqueous  agency  subsequent  to  the  drift 
period.  *  *  *  The  well  was  stoned  up  late  in  the 
autumn  of  1858,  and  during  the  winter,  ice  formed  upon 
the  water  in  one  night,  two  inches  thick.  It  continued  to 
freeze  till  April ;  after  which  no  ice  was  formed  on  the 
surface,  but  we  can  testify  that  as  late  as  June  25th,  the 
stones  of  the  well  for  four  or  five  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  water  were  mostly  coated  with  ice ;  nay,  it  had  not 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLAClERES,  28$ 

wholly  disappeared  July  i4th.  The  temperature  of  the 
water  was  only  one  degree  of  Fahrenheit  above  freezing 
point.  The  ice  did  however  disappear  in  the  autumn  but 
was  formed  again  (how  early  we  did  not  learn)  in  the 
winter,  and  so  thick  too  that  it  was  necessary  to  send 
some  one  into  the  well  to  break  it.  We  visited  the  well 
August  1 8th,  1860,  and  found  the  temperature  42°.  Yet 
only  the  week  previous  ice  was  seen  upon  the  stones,  and 
we  were  even  told  by  one  of  the  family,  that  a  piece  of  ice 
had  been  drawn  up  the  day  before  in  the  bucket.  *  *  * 
These  frozen  deposits  may  have  been  produced  during  the 
glacial  period  that  accompanied  the  formation  of  drift,  and 
continued  far  down  into  the  subsequent  epochs  of  modified 
drift.  *  *  *  But  in  all  the  excavations  both  gravel 
and  clay  occur :  and  how  almost  impervious  to  heat  must 
such  a  coating  20  feet  thick,  be  !  It  would  not,  however, 
completely  protect  the  subjacent  mass  from  solar  heat. 
But  there  is  another  agency  still  more  powerful  for  this 
end,  namely,  evaporation,  which  we  think  has  operated 
here,  as  we  shall  more  fully  describe  further  on ;  and  we 
think  that  these  two  agencies,  namely,  non-conduction  and 
evaporation,  may  have  preserved  this  frozen  deposit  for 
a  very  long  period,  from  exterior  influences." 

Professor  Thury  in  1861  says  about  Saint-Georges: 
"  Such  is  the  resume,  concise  but  exact,  of  the  results  of 
our  winter  excursion.  They  furnish  proof  to  the  fact  gen- 
erally borne  witness  to  by  the  mountaineers,  that  ice  does 
not  form  in  winter  in  the  interior  of  caverns.  But  if  this 


286          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

is  so,  it  is  for  a  very  simple  reason :  two  things  are  neces- 
sary for  the  formation  of  ice  :  cold  and  water.  In  winter, 
the  cold  is  not  wanting :  but  if  there  is  no  spring  opening 
in  the  cave,  the  water  is  absent,  and  then  no  ice  forms. 

"  It  is  in  the  spring,  at  the  time  of  the  first  melting  of 
the  snows,  that  the  ice  must  form.  Then  water  at  o° 
pours  over  the  surface,  and  penetrates  by  the  fissures 
of  the  rock  and  by  the  large  openings  into  the  chilled 
cavern,  which  is  also  receiving  the  freezing  air  of  the 
nights.  The  grotto  then  makes  its  annual  provision  of 
ice,  which  after  this  could  only  diminish  little  by  little 
during  the  whole  duration  of  the  warm  season." 

Professor  Thury  writes  about  the  Grand  Cave  de  Mon- 
tarquis :  "Here  it  must  be  when  water  and  cold  meet, 
that  is  autumn  and  especially  spring,  the  time  of  the  first 
melting  of  the  snows." 

"  During  the  winter  *  *  *  the  colder,  heavier  air 
comes  to  freeze  the  water  of  the  grotto,  and  chill  the  ice 
and  the  wall  of  rock." 

"  During  the  summer,  the  radiation  of  the  vaults  and 
the  proper  heat  of  the  ground  only  melt  a  small  quantity 
of  ice  because  this  absorbs  much  heat  to  pass  into  a  liquid 
state." 

"The  heat  of  the  air  is  entirely  used  to  melt  the  ice ;  it 
does  not  therefore  manifest  itself  as  sensible  heat." 

"  The  contact  of  the  ice  ready  to  melt,  plays  in  a  certain 
way,  towards  the  air  a  little  warmer  than  itself,  the  role  of 
an  extremely  absorbing  body,  or  one  which  has  an  ex- 
cessive caloric  conductibility." 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  287 

"  Here  the  formation  of  the  ice  could  not  possibly  be 
attributed  to  the  cold  caused  by  evaporation.  The  psy- 
chrometer  indicated  ninety-two  per  cent,  of  relative  hu- 
midity: the  atmosphere  of  the  grotto  was  therefore  almost 
saturated  with  evaporation  of  water,  and  the  maximum  of 
cold  caused  by  evaporation  was  not  over  half  a  degree 
centigrade." 

About  prismatic  ice  and  a  hollow  pyramid,  he  says : 
"The  prismatic  (areolaire)  structure  is  produced  later  on 
in  the  ice,  by  a  new  and  particular  arrangement  of  the 
molecules  of  the  already  solidified  water.  Therefore  the 
recent  stalactites  are  never  crystallized." 

"  In  the  beginning  of  the  hot  season,  the  atmospheric 
temperature  of  the  grotto  rises  slowly.  Inferior  to  zero 
by  some  tenths  of  a  degree,  it  produces  first  on  the  surface, 
in  the  stalactites,  the  prismatic  structure.  The  temperature 
continues  to  rise,  the  central  portions  of  the  stalactites, 
still  composed  of  ordinary  ice,  liquefy,  and  if  the  melting 
water  finds  some  issue,  either  by  accidental  openings  left 
between  some  prisms,  or  by  the  extremity  of  the  stalactite 
or  by  some  point  of  its  surface  which  had  escaped  the 
action  of  the  regular  crystallization ;  by  this  opening  the 
water  escapes,  and  the  tubular  stalactite  has  been  formed." 

"  The  column  was  composed  of  a  very  special  ice,  per- 
fectly dry,  perfectly  homogeneous,  translucid  and  whose 
appearance  could  only  be  compared  to  that  of  the  most 
beautiful  porcelain.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  we  had 
under  our  eyes  a  special  molecular  state  of  congealed 
water.  This  state  would  be  produced  under  the  influence 


288         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

of  a  constant  temperature  of  a  certain  degree  (NoTE — per- 
haps not  far  from  4° — the  actual  temperature  of  the  grotto) 
long  prolonged.  These  causes  can  he  realized  more  com- 
pletely in  glacieres  than  anywheres  else." 

The  Reverend  George  Forrest  Browne,  published  in 
1865,  Ice  Caves  in  France  and  Switzerland,  one  of  the  most 
delightful  books  of  travel  ever  written,  on  account  of  the 
scientific  accuracy  and  the  humor  of  the  author.  He  visited 
La  Genolliere,  Saint-Georges,  Saint-Livres,  Chaux-les-Pas- 
savant,  Monthezy,  Arc-sous-£icon,  the  Schafloch,  Haut- 
d'Aviernoz,  which  he  calls  Grand  Anu,  Chapuis,  and  Font- 
d'Urle.  He  says:  "The  view  which  Deluc  adopted  was 
one  which  I  have  myself  independently  formed.  *  *  * 
The  heavy  cold  air  of  winter  sinks  down  into  the  glacieres, 
and  the  lighter  warm  air  of  summer  cannot  on  ordinary 
principles  of  gravitation  dislodge  it,  so  that  heat  is  very 
slowly  spread  in  the  caves ;  and  even  when  some  amount 
of  heat  does  reach  the  ice,  the  latter  melts  but  slowly,  for 
ice  absorbs  60°  C.  of  heat  in  melting  ;  and  thus,  when  ice  is 
once  formed,  it  becomes  a  material  guarantee  for  the  per- 
manence of  cold  in  the  cave.  For  this  explanation  to  hold 
good  it  is  necessary  that  the  level  at  which  the  ice  is  formed 
should  be  below  the  level  of  the  entrance  to  the  cave; 
otherwise  the  mere  weight  of  the  cold  air  would  cause  it 
to  leave  its  prison  as  soon  as  the  spring  warmth  arrived. 
In  every  single  case  that  has  come  under  my  observation, 
this  condition  has  been  emphatically  fulfilled.  It  is  neces- 
sary, also,  that  the  cave  should  be  protected  from  direct 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT   GLACIERES.  289 

radiation,  as  the  gravitation  of  cold  air  has  nothing  to  do 
with  resistance  to  that  powerful  means  of  introducing  heat. 
This  condition,  also,  is  fulfilled  by  nature  in  all  the  gla- 
cieres  I  have  visited,  excepting  that  of  S.  Georges ;  and 
there  art  has  replaced  the  protection  formerly  afforded  by 
the  thick  trees  which  grew  over  the  hole  of  entrance.  The 
effect  of  the  second  hole  in  the  roof  of  this  glaciere  is  to 
destroy  all  the  ice  which  is  within  range  of  the  sun.  A 
third  and  very  necessary  condition  is,  that  the  wind  should 
not  be  allowed  access  to  the  cave ;  for  if  it  were,  it  would 
infallibly  bring  in  heated  air,  in  spite  of  the  specific  weight 
of  the  cold  air  stored  within.  It  will  be  understood  from 
my  description  of  such  glacieres  as  that  of  the  Grand  Anu, 
of  Monthezy,  and  the  lower  glaciere  of  the  Pre  de  S.  Livres, 
how  completely  sheltered  from  all  winds  the  entrances  to 
those  caves  are.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  too,  that  the 
large  surfaces  which  are  available  for  evaporation  have 
much  to  do  with  maintaining  a  somewhat  lower  temper- 
ature than  the  mean  temperature  of  the  place  where  the 
cave  occurs." 

Browne  noticed  prismatic  ice  several  times.  He  says 
of  it:  "  M.  Thury  suggests  also,  as  a  possibility,  what  I 
have  found  to  be  the  case  by  frequent  observations,  that 
the  prismatic  ice  has  greater  power  of  resisting  heat  than 
ordinary  ice.  *  *  *  A  Frenchman  who  was  present  in 
the  room  in  which  the  Chemical  Section  of  the  British 
Association  met  at  Bath,  and  heard  a  paper  which  I  read 
there  on  this  prismatic  structure,  suggested  that  it  was 
probably  something  akin  to  the  rhomboidal  form  assumed 


GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

by  dried  mud ;  and  I  have  since  been  struck  by  the  great 
resemblance  to  it,  as  far  as  the  surface  goes,  which  the  pits 
of  mud  left  by  the  coprolite  workers  near  Cambridge  offer, 
of  course  on  a  very  large  scale.  This  led  me  to  suppose 
that  the  intense  dryness  which  would  naturally  be  the  re- 
sult of  the  action  of  some  weeks  or  months  of  great  cold 
upon  subterranean  ice  might  be  one  of  the  causes  of  its 
assuming  this  form,  and  the  observations  at  Jena  would 
rather  confirm  than  contradict  this  view :  competent  au- 
thorities, however,  seem  inclined  to  believe  that  warmthr 
and  not  cold,  is  the  producing  cause." 

Mr.  Browne  found  a  hollow  cone  at  La  Genolliere,  for 
which  he  accounted  as  follows  :  "In  the  loftier  part  of 
the  cave  *  *  *  ninety  six  drops  of  water  in  a  minute 
splashed  on  to  a  small  stone  immediately  under  the  main 
fissure.  This  stone  was  in  the  centre  of  a  considerable 
area  of  the  floor  which  was  clear  of  ice.  *  *  *  I  found 
that  the  edge  of  the  ice  round  this  clear  area  was  much 
thicker  than  the  rest  of  the  ice  on  the  floor,  and  was 
evidently  the  remains  of  the  swelling  pedestal  of  the 
column.  *  *  *  When  the  melted  snows  of  spring 
send  down  to  the  cave,  through  the  fissures  of  the  rock, 
an  abundance  of  water  at  a  very  low  temperature  and  the 
cave  itself  is  stored  with  the  winter's  cold,  these  thicker 
rings  of  ice  catch  first  the  descending  water,  and  so  a 
circular  wall,  naturally  conical,  is  formed  around  the  area 
of  stones  ;  the  remaining  water  either  running  off  through 
the  interstices,  or  forming  a  floor  of  ice  of  less  thickness, 
which  yields  to  the  next  summer's  drops.  In  the  course 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  29! 

of  time,  this  conical  wall  rises,  narrowing  always,  till  a 
dome-like  roof  is  at  length  formed  and  thenceforth  the 
column  is  solid."  From  what  I  have  observed  myself,  this 
explanation  seems  to  fairly  meet  the  facts. 

Professor  T.  G.  Bonney,  in  1868,  was  inclined  to  believe 
that  there  was  some  connection  between  glacieres  and  a 
glacial  period. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Raymond,  in  1869,  concluded  from  his  own 
observations  about  the  lava  cave  in  Washington :  that  the 
cold  air  of  winter  freezes  up  the  percolating  waters  from 
the  surface,  layer  upon  layer,  solid  from  the  bottom, 
and  the  accumulated  ice  thaws  slowly  in  summer,  being 
retarded  by  the  covering  which  keeps  out  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun,  and  by  the  fact  that  the  melting  ice  at 
one  end  of  the  cave,  through  which  the  summer  draught 
enters,  itself  refrigerates  the  air  and  maintains  a  freezing 
temperature  at  the  other  end. 

Dr.  C.  A.  White,  in  1870,  says  of  the  cavern  at  Deco- 
rah:  "  The  formation  of  the  ice  is  probably  due  to  the 
rapid  evaporation  of  the  moisture  of  the  earth  and  rocks, 
caused  by  the  heat  of  the  summer  sun  upon  the  outer  wall 
of  the  fissure  and  valley  side.  This  outer  wall  is  from  ten 
to  twenty  feet  in  thickness  where  the  ice  was  seen  to  be 
most  abundant.  The  water  for  its  production  seems  to 
be  supplied  by  slow  exudation  from  the  inner  wall  of  the 
cave." 


292          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Dr.  Krenner,  in  1874,  wrote  of  Dobsina  as  "  a  natural 
ice  cellar  of  giant  dimensions,  whose  ice  masses  formed  in 
winter,  the  summer  does  not  succeed  in  melting." 

Professor  W.  Boyd  Dawkins  wrote  in  1874:  "The 
apparent  anomaly  that  one  only  out  of  a  group  of  caves 
exposed  to'  the  same  temperature  should  be  a  glaciere, 
may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  these  conditions  [those 
formulated  by  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Browne]  are  found  in  com- 
bination but  rarely,  and  if  one  were  absent  there  would  be 
no  accumulation  of  perpetual  ice.  It  is  very  probable  that 
the  store  of  cold  laid  up  in  these  caves,  as  in  an  ice  house, 
has  been  ultimately  derived  from  the  great  refrigeration  of 
climate  in  Europe  in  the  Glacial  Period." 

Mr.  Theodore  Kirchhoff  examined  the  lava  caves  in  the 
State  of  Washington  and  in  1876  wrote  that  he  considered 
that  the  ice  in  the  smaller  ones  were  simply  remains  of  the 
winter's  cold.  He  thought  that  the  ice  in  the  large  cave 
where  there  is  a  draught  could  not  be  accounted  for  in  the 
same  way,  so  he  concluded  that  the  ice  must  be  due  to  the 
draught. 

Mr.  N.  M.  Lowe,  in  1879,  proposed  the  Compressed 
Air  or  Capillary  theory74  about  the  Cave  at  Decorah. 

Mr.  John  Ritchie,  Jr.,  in  1879,  gave  an  exceedingly  clear 
exposition  of  the  theory  in  the  same  journal. 

MSee  Part  II.,  page  142. 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  293 

Mr.  Aden  S.  Benedict,  in  1881,  published  his  observa- 
tions about  Decorah.  He  found  that  there  was  no  water 
falling  in  the  cave  to  compress  the  air,  that  there  was  no 
water  falling  near  enough  to  be  heard,  nor  any  aperture 
giving  vent  to  cold  air  in  the  cave.  He  thought  that  the 
cold  of  winter  cools  the  sides  of  the  cave  several  degrees 
below  freezing  point  and  that  these  rocks  are  so  far 
underground  that  it  would  take  a  long  season  of  hot 
weather  to  raise  this  temperature  to  the  melting  point  of 
ice.  In  the  spring  the  water  percolates  through  the  soil 
and  drips  on  to  the  yet  freezing  rocks  ;  on  which  it  freezes 
and  remains  until  the  heat  of  summer  penetrates  to  a  suffi- 
cient depth  to  melt  it  away.  The  rocks  once  raised  above  o° 
remain  so  until  the  following  winter  and  consequently  if 
there  are  heavy  autumn  rains  there  is  water  on  the  rocks 
but  no  ice.  Mr.  Benedict  concluded  that  there  was  noth- 
ing more  mysterious  about  Decorah  than  the  fact  that  if 
you  drop  water  on  a  cold  stone  it  will  freeze. 

Professor  Friederich  Umlauft  in  1883  wrote  about 
glacieres  "  that  as  moreover  they  were  generally  protected 
against  warm  winds  and  strong  draughts  and  as  their  en- 
trances look  towards  the  north  or  east,  there  is  conse- 
quently more  ice  formed  under  these  conditions  in  winter 
than  can  melt  away  in  summer.  Other  ice  grottoes  how- 
ever show  the  remarkable  characteristic,  that  it  is  warm  in 
them  in  winter,  in  the  summer  on  the  contrary  it  becomes 
so  cold  that  all  the  dripping  water  freezes.  They  are 
found  near  snow  clefts  and  gorges  ;  when  in  the  hot  sum- 


294          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

mer  months  the  snow  melts,  then  the  cold  which  has  be- 
come free  presses  down  the  temperature  in  the  cave  so 
much  that  the  water  freezes  into  ice.  Such  grottoes  are 
in  Austria  at  *  *  *  Frauenmauer,  *  *  *  Brand- 
stein,  *  *  *  Teplitz,  *  *  *  Scilize,  *  *  *  Dob- 
schauer." 

Herr  Korber  in  1885  wrote  about  the  Schafloch,  that  the 
stored-up  winter's  cold  stands  out  as  permanent  adversary 
of  the  higher  temperature  of  the  earth.  The  thermometer 
proved  this  by  its  action  at  the  end  of  the  cave  in  a  rock 
cleft,  which  is  warmer  than  the  rest  of  the  cave.  In  Sep- 
tember Herr  Korber  found  the  masses  of  ice  less  and  the 
stalagmites  smaller  than  in  January,  especially  a  column 
which  in  January  had  become  a  stately  mountain  of  trans- 
parent ice. 

Professor  Eberhard  Fugger  of  Salzburg,  has  studied 
the  caves  of  the  Untersberg  carefully,  having  paid  over 
eighty  visits  to  them.  He  classifies  freezing  caverns  into 
the  following  types,  according  to  their  position  and  their 
shape : 

According  to  position:    i,  open  caves,    that   is   those 

whose  entrance  is  free  on  a  rock  wall  ;  2,  pit  caves,  where 
the  entrance  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit ;  3,  pit  caves,  where 
the  pit  is  covered  and  the  opening  is  in  the  roof. 

According  to  shape  :  i,  sackhohlen  or  chamber  caverns, 
into  which  one  enters  immediately  at  the  entrance  ;  2, 
gangkohlen,  or  passage  caves  terminating  in  a  chamber  ;  3, 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT    GLACIERES.  295 

rohrenhohlen,  or  passage  caves  where  the  passages  continue 
further  than  the  chamber. 

He  is  a  strong  advocate  of  the  winter's  cold  theory. 
He  says :  "  The  ice  of  caves  is  formed  by  the  cold  of 
winter,  and  remains  despite  the  heat  of  summer,  as  through 
local  circumstances  the  quantity  of  heat  brought  to  the  ice 
is  not  great  enough  to  melt  it  by  the  time  when  ice  and 
snow  in  the  open  at  the  same  altitude  have  already  dis- 
appeared." 

"  In  order  that  ice  may  form  in  a  cave  in  winter,  two 
factors  are  necessary.  There  must  be  water  present  in 
some  form  or  other,  and  in  some  way  the  outside  cold  air 
must  be  able  to  sink  into  the  cave." 

"When  the  bottom  of  a  cave  is  below  the  entrance,  the 
outside  cold  winter  air  sinks  into  the  cave  from  its  weight, 
when  the  temperature  of  the  cave  air  is  higher  than  that  of 
the  outside  air;  and  it  will  remain  there  during  the  warmer 
weather,  as  the  warm  outside  air  on  account  of  its  lighter 
weight  cannot  drive  out  the  cold  heavy  cave  air." 

"  The  most  important  factor  for  the  formation  of  ice  is 
the  drip  water.  The  more  drip  flows  into  a  cave  during 
the  cold  season,  the  more  ice  is  formed ;  the  more  drip,  on 
the  contrary,  flows  into  the  cave  during  the  warm  season, 
the  more  ice  is  destroyed." 

"  The  warmth,  which  the  roof  of  the  cave  gives  out,  is 
also  a  cause  which  helps  to  melt  the  ice,  and  a  cause  in 
fact  which  works  the  harder,  the  higher  the  temperature  of 
the  roof  and  the  dirtier  the  ice  floor." 

"  If  direct  rays  of  the  sun  penetrate  a  cave,  they  scarcely 


296          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

warm  up  the  air  which  they  traverse,  but  they  raise  the 
temperature  of  the  floor  or  of  the  walls,  which  they  touch. 
They  are  therefore  a  very  important  factor,  which  may 
bring  about  the  melting  of  the  ice." 

"  The  snow  slope  at  the  mouth  of  a  cave  offers  some 
protection  against  the  rays  of  the  sun,  especially  if  it  is  no 
longer  white,  but  covered  with  all  sorts  of  dirt." 

"  The  larger  the  mass  of  ice,  the  longer  is  its  duration." 

"A  certain  thickness  to  the  roof  is  of  importance  in 
preserving  the  ice.  If  it  is  less  than  8  meters,  then  it  is 
well  if  it  is  covered  with  outside  vegetation." 

I  entirely  agree  with  these  dicta  of  Professor  Fugger. 

In  1893,  Fugger  writes:  "The  peculiar  readings  of 
temperature,  which  I  made  in  August  1877,  in  the  Kolo- 
wratshohle,  namely  on  the  i3th  at  12  M.,  0.5°,  on  the 
1 5th  at  4  P.  M.,  0.35°,  on  the  23d  at  10  A.  M.,  0.12°,  on  the 
26th  at  10  A.  M.,  0.17°,  and  on  the  3Oth  at  2.15  P.  M., 
— 0.10°,  I  think  I  can  attribute  to  the  workings  of  the  winds. 
In  the  observations  themselves  there  could  scarce  be  an 
error.  All  five  observations  were  made  at  the  same  place, 
with  the  same  thermometer,  after  at  least  half  an  hour's 
exposure.  In  the  time  from  the  i3th  to  the  3Oth  of 
August,  the  temperature  minimum  in  the  town  of  Salz- 
burg, was  12°;  before  the  3Oth  were  several  cloudless 
nights.  During  the  whole  of  August  scarcely  any  but 
southeast  and  northwest  winds  were  blowing.  The  Kolo- 
wratshohle  opens  in  a  rock  wall  to  the  east ;  the  above 
named  winds  therefore  affected  during  the  entire  month 
the  entrance  to  the  cave  and  may  have  produced  a  lively 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT    GLACIERES.  297 

evaporation  in  the  cave,  through  a  sort  of  sucking  up  of 
the  cave  air,  and  thus  have  created  the  rather  decided 
cooling  off  of  0.6°  within  seventeen  days." 

This  statement,  coming  from  Professor  Fugger,  de- 
serves particular  attention,  because  it  would  go  to  show : 
first,  that  the  air  in  the  Kolowratshohle,  a  sackhohle  with 
only  one  entrance,  is  only  apparently  stagnant  in  summer 
and  not  really  so ;  and  second,  that  evaporation  may  act 
to  a  limited  extent  in  a  cavern  where  there  is  almost  no 
running  water. 

Captain  Trouillet,  in  1885,  published  a  paper  about 
Chaux-les-Passavant.  He  found  that  when  it  was  colder 
inside  than  outside,  the  internal  air  was  nearly  cut  off 
from  the  outside ;  when  it  was  coldest  outside  there  was 
a  lively  disturbance.  He  called  these  two  classes  periodes 
fermees  and  periodes  ouvertes.  He  says:  "The  duration 
of  a  closed  period  is  measured  then  on  the  curves  [of  a 
maximum  and  minimum  thermometer]  of  the  interior 
temperatures,  between  a  minimum  and  the  following 
maximum ;  that  of  an  open  period  is  between  a  minimum 
and  the  preceding  maximum.  One  can  thus  count  from 
the  25th  November  to  the  3ist  December  25  open  periods  of 
a  total  duration  of  200  hours  or  8  times  24  hours :  which 
gives  for  each  a  duration  of  7^  hours.  The  shortest 
lasted  2  hours  and  the  longest  16  hours.  During  the 
same  interval,  the  closed  periods  numbered  26,  making  a 
total  duration  of  about  28  days ;  the  longest,  which  lasted 
from  the  3d  to  the  8th  December,  was  126  hours  long." 


298          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Trouillet  also  says:  "From  the  23d  to  the  3Oth  De- 
cember, the  grotto  was  completely  isolated  from  the  ex- 
ternal air,  and  yet  during  three  consecutive  nights,  the 
interior  had  three  marked  chills.  Such  is  the  phenomenon 
whose  cause  can  only  lay,  in  our  opinion,  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  dry  air  driven  to  the  cave  by  the  winds  between 
north  and  east.  This  air  on  entering  comes  in  contact 
with  the  ice  and  the  humid  roof  of  the  cave ;  it  saturates 
itself  in  producing  a  formation  of  vapors,  and  therefrom 
a  consumption  of  heat  which  may  be  considerable." 

There  are  some  discrepancies  in  this  last  paragraph 
which  must  be  noted,  for  the  reason  that  Trouillet' s  ob- 
servations are  so  valuable.  He  does  not  mention  having 
seen  the  vapors  himself,  in  fact  the  production  of  these 
vapors  seems  only  an  inference.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  under- 
stand how  the  grotto  could  be  "completely  isolated  from 
the  external  air  "  if  the  phenomenon  lay  "in  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  dry  air  driven  to  the  cave  by  the  winds  north 
and  east." 

Dr.  B.  Schwalbe,  in  1886,  wrote  that  "all  my  observa- 
tions point  to  the  fact  that  the  rock  is  the  cooling  factor  in 
summer,  and  that  the  cold  goes  out  from  it."  He  says 
also  that  "  when  I  saw  for  the  first  time  the  little  cave  of 
Roth,  which  was  filled  with  fairly  numerous  ice  formations, 
it  was  precisely  the  smallness  of  the  volume  of  air  and  the 
strange  appearance  of  the  ice  which  made  the  simple  cold 
air  theory  seen  insufficient,  nor  could  I  later,  by  widening 
the  theory  and  observing  the  localities  from  the  basis  of 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT    GLACIERES.  299 

DeLuc's  theory,  accept  it.  It  always  seemed  by  all  my 
observations  that  in  the  rock  there  must  be  a  lasting 
source  of  cold.  There  must  be  a  cause  present,  which 
prevents  the  rapid  warming  of  the  cave  wall  through  the 
temperature  of  the  ground,  which  also  keeps  the  stone 
cool  in  summer  and  induces  the  main  ice  formation  in  the 
spring."  He  also  hints  that  Mr.  Lowe's  compressed  air 
theory  may  be  the  correct  one.  Dr.  Schwalbe's  work, 
Uber  Eishbhlen  und  Eislocher,  is  one  of  the  four  or  five 
most  important  contributions  to  glaciere  literature,  and 
his  opinion  is  entitled  to  great  respect  on  account  of  his 
many  observations. 

Professor  Israel  C.  Russell  wrote  in  1890,  about  the  ice 
beds  on  the  Yukon  :  "  It  is  thought  by  some  observers, 
to  be  an  inheritance  from  a  former  period  of  extreme  cold ; 
but  under  existing  climatic  conditions,  when  ice  forms 
beneath  a  layer  of  moss,  it  is  preserved  during  the  short 
summer,  and  may  increase  as  it  does  on  the  tundras,  to 
an  astonishing  thickness." 

In  1897,  Professor  Russell  says:  "It  is  not  probable 
that  all  the  subsoil  ice  of  northern  regions  has  been 
formed  in  one  way.  Along  the  flood  plains  and  on  the 
deltas  of  rivers  where  layers  of  clear  ice  are  interbedded 
with  sheets  of  frozen  gravel  and  vegetable  matter,  as  is 
frequently  the  case,  it  seems  evident  that  the  growth  of 
the  deposit  is  due,  in  some  instances,  to  the  flooding  of 
previously  frozen  layers,  and  the  freezing  and  subsequent 
burial  of  the  sediment  thus  added  to  their  surfaces. 


3OO         GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

When  spring  freshets  spread  out  sheets  of  debris  over 
the  flood  plain  of  a  river,  as  frequently  happens  when 
streams  in  high  latitudes  flow  northward,  the  previously 
frozen  soil  and  the  ice  of  ponds  and  swamps  may  be 
buried  and  indefinitely  preserved."  "  There  is  still 
another  process  by  which  frozen  subsoil  may  be  formed  in 
high  latitudes :  this  is,  the  effects  of  the  cold  during  the 
long  winters  are  not  counteracted  by  the  heat  during  the 
short  summers.  Under  the  conditions  now  prevailing  in 
northern  Alaska,  where  the  mean  annual  temperature  is 
below  32°  Fahrenheit,  the  frozen  layer  tends  to  increase 
the  thickness  from  year  to  year  just  as  the  depth  of  frozen 
soil  in  more  temperate  latitudes  may  increase  from  month 
to  month  during  the  winter  season.  During  the  short 
northern  summers,  especially  where  the  ground  is  moss 
covered,  melting  only  extends  a  few  inches  below  the  sur- 
face." 

Mons.  E.  A.  Martel,  in  1892,  wrote  of  the  Creux- 
Perce :  "I  incline  only,  as  in  all  the  pits  which  narrow  at 
the  bottom  (avens  a  retrecissemeni]  to  attribute  the  chilling 
to  the  fall  of  the  cold  air  of  winter  and  to  its  non-renewal 
in  summer."  And  at  page  564  of  Les  Abimes  he  says : 
"  One  knows  that  evaporation  is  an  active  cause  of  cool- 
ing ;  therefore  it  is  always  cooler  in  caves  near  the  drips 
of  water.  *  *  *  I  have  positively  noted  this  influence 
of  evaporation  near  the  drips  of  Tabourel  (8°  instead  of 
9.5°),  of  Dargilan,  of  the  Cerna  Jama,  and  in  abysses  with 
double  mouths  where  there  were  strong  draughts  (Raba- 


SOME   OPINIONS   ABOUT   GLACIERES.  30 1 

nel,  Biau,  Fosse-Mobile,  etc.)."  In  December,  1897, 
Mons.  Martel  writes :  "  In  short,  the  action  of  the  winter's 
cold  is  the  real  cause  accepted  by  *  *  *  and  recently 
confirmed  by  Fugger,  Trouillet  and  Martel."  And  also : 
"It  is  probable  that  this  influence  [evaporation]  is  only 
real  at  rather  high  altitudes ;  this  is  at  least  what  seems 
the  result  of  the  studies  of  the  caves  of  Naye  (1700  to 
190x3  meters)  begun  by  Professor  Dutoit." 

In  1899,  Mons.  Martel  gave  an  account  of  the  Glaciere 
de  Naye.  In  this  paper,  he  abandons  definitely  fossil  ice, 
salts  and  the  capillary  theory  as  possible  causes  of  under- 
ground ice.  He  considers  that  there  are  four  causes : 
i,  shape  of  the  cavity;  2,  free  access  of  snow  in  winter; 
3,  high  altitude  ;  4,  evaporation  due  to  wind  currents. 
The  last  two  causes  he  thinks  are  not  necessarily  always 
present.  For  instance  he  considers  that,  at  the  Creux- 
Perce,  and  at  Chaux-les-Passavant,  the  ice  is  due  espe- 
cially to  the  sack  or  hour-glass  shape  of  these  hollows  where 
the  summer  air  cannot  get  in  on  account  of  its  lightness. 
At  the  Glaciere  de  Naye,  which  is  a  big  windhole,  situated 
at  an  altitude  of  1750  to  1820  meters,  Mons.  Martel  thinks 
that  the  ice  is  formed  by  the  snow  and  cold  of  winter,  but 
that  its  preservation  is  assured  by  the  evaporation  caused 
by  the  action  of  the  windhole. 

Dr.  Terlanday,  in  1893,  asserted  that  ice  does  not  form 
in  Szilize  in  winter,  and  that  the  ice  first  forms  in  the  win- 
ter in  the  upper  part  of  rock  fissures  and  that  in  the 
spring,  at  the  time  of  an  increase  of  temperature,  this 


3O2  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

fissure  ice  is  brought  to  the  melting  point  by  the  succes- 
sive entering  of  heat  into  the  earth  and  that  it  then  arrives 
at  the  cave,  where  it  aids  the  formation  of  icicles.  This 
theory  about  fissure  ice  is  probably  in  so  far  correct,  that 
the  ice  in  the  upper  parts  of  fissures,  near  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  melts  before  the  ice  in  the  lower  parts  of  fis- 
sures. The  drip  would  then  naturally  run  into  the  cave 
and,  as  long  as  the  temperature  of  the  cave  was  low,  help 
to  form  cave  ice. 

Dr.  Hans  Lohmann,  in  1895,  published  some  valuable 
notes  about  several  glacieres.  While  considering  the  cold 
of  winter  as  the  main  cause  of  the  ice,  he  thought  evapo- 
ration a  secondary  cause  of  cold.  He  says:  "That  the 
cold  from  evaporation  bears  its  share  in  cooling  a  cave, 
will  not  be  denied.  *  *  *  The  air  saturated  with 
aqueous  vapor  makes  one  think  of  constant  evaporation. 
The  aqueous  vapor  spreads  itself  by  diffusion  throughout 
the  entire  cave,  and  if  the  outside  air  is  driest,  goes  to 
that.  Through  this,  more  ice  and  water  can  always  be 
vaporized,  and  to  the  warming  elements  there  is  furnished 
a  cooling  one.  If  dry  winds  get  into  the  cave,  then  must 
evaporation  be  very  lively  and  the  chilling  especially 
strong.  Through  this  cause  alone  can  be  explained  the 
remarkably  low  temperature  of  -f-  6.3°  in  the  new  part  of 
the  Garischen  Stollen,  in  contrast  to  the  temperature  of 
-f-  7.9°  in  the  old  part.  The  strong  draught  in  the  last 
drew  out  through  its  suction  the  damp  air  of  the  new 
adit,  so  that  there  had  to  be  a  strong  evaporation." 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  303 

Dr.  Lohmann  gives  some  exhaustive  notes  about  pris- 
matic ice.  He  found  it  a  product  of  the  fall  months.  He 
thinks  all  the  observations  show  that  "  the  beginning  of  all 
prismatic  formation  in  the  ice  may  be  looked  for  in  the 
changes  of  temperature  in  the  cave  at  the  time  of  the 
formation  of  the  ice.  These  cause  the  everywhere  recog- 
nized splitting,  vertically  to  the  outer  surface.  The  further 
development  hangs,  as  shown  by  Hagenbach  and  Emden, 
on  the  attempt  of  the  neighboring  cells,  to  join  into  larger 
unities.  The  increase  of  the  larger  crystals  is  finally  pre- 
vented by  the  melting  out  of  the  openings  between  the 
separate  crystals.  Through  this  may  be  explained  the 
difference  in  the  prismatic  ice  in  different  parts  of  the 
same  cave." 

Regierungsrath  Franz  Kraus,  in  1895,  wrote  a  short 
essay  on  glacieres  in  Hohlenkunde.  He  seems  to  have 
seen  but  few  glacieres  himself,  and  considers  the  scientific 
side  of  the  question  by  no  means  solved  as  yet.  He  says  : 
"The  last  word  will  not  be  spoken  by  the  geographers  and 
the  Alpine  climbers  *  *  *  but  by  the  physicists,  in 
whose  field  both  questions  really  belong.  Only  then,  when 
the  physical  circumstances  of  the  formation  of  the  ice  in 
glacieres  have  been  so  thoroughly  understood,  that  under 
the  same  circumstances  it  may  be  possible  to  build  arti- 
ficial glacieres,  only  then  could  one  say :  the  glaciere 
question  is  definitely  settled.  The  best  proof  is  always 
experiment." 

He    lays    down     several    dicta    which    he    says    are 


304  GLACIERES   OR   FREEZING   CAVERNS. 

universally  recognized,  among  which  is  this:  "2.  The  ice 
formations  in  the  debris  heaps  of  basaltic  mountains  are 
summer  ice  formations.  The  evaporation  of  the  infiltra- 
tion water  is  recognized  on  all  sides  as  the  cause  of  this 
ice."  I  differ  in  opinion  from  Herr  Kraus  about  this 
matter,  and  think  that,  on  the  contrary,  every  proof  shows 
that  the  ice  of  basaltic  taluses  is  not  a  summer  forma- 
tion and  is  not  due  to  evaporation. 

Herr  Kraus  also  says:  "The  Eishohlen  resemble  so 
little  the  Windrohren,  that  for  these  a  proper  name  is  quite 
correct.  Just  as  one  cannot  draw  a  sharp  line  between 
Einsturzschlunden  and  Einstiirzdolinen,  so  one  cannot 
draw  a  sharp  line  between  eishohlen  and  windrokren.  A 
stagnation  of  cave  air  does  not  exist,  and  no  cave  stu- 
dent would  pretend  to  say  it  existed.  The  circulation 
of  air  may  in  certain  caves  take  place  almost  entirely 
through  the  mouth  and  it  then  depends  largely  on  the 
shape  of  the  latter;  in  other  caves  are  crevices  and 
erosion  holes,  which  allow  a  circulation  of  air.  Again  in 
other  caves  air  may  come  through  the  floor  into  the 
cave,  as  is  proved  by  certain  places  always  remaining 
free  from  ice." 

He  also  says:  "The  formation  of  dripstone  is  also 
diminished  about  thick  roofs,  when  the  cracks  are  too 
broad  to  permit  a  slow  dripping  process.  In  caves  with 
sufficient  air  movements,  that  is  ventilation,  the  dripstone 
formation  takes  place  faster  than  in  those  in  which  the  air 
is  only  slowly  renewed.  Also  in  such  caves,  in  which  the 
air  is  strongly  filled  with  moisture,  the  dripstone  forma- 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  305 

tion  process  is  materially  hindered.  Therefore  in  water 
caves  and  in  eishohlen  one  finds  only  rarely  dripstone 
formations,  and  these  mainly  of  poor  appearance.  But  in 
all  cases  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  infiltration  water  plays 
an  important  part." 

In  1896,  a  Western  newspaper  published  the  follow- 
ing explanation  about  the  presence  of  ice  in  the  cave 
at  Elkinsville,  Indiana ;  and  it  shows  how  the  idea — 
long  since  exploded — of  the  ice  being  due  to  chemical 
causes,  serenely  bobs  up  on  the  discovery  of  a  new  cave : 
"  Some  have  advanced  the  theory  that  the  air  is  forced 
through  under  passages  of  the  earth  with  such  pressure 
as  to  make  the  strange  formation ;  some  have  attributed 
the  cause  to  an  underlying  bed  of  alkali,  whose  chemical 
change  to  a  gaseous  form  has  produced  the  phenomenon. 
Others  have  thought  that  the  interior  heat  of  the  earth, 
acting  upon  the  iron  pyrites,  or  fool's  gold,  which  largely 
abounds  in  this  country,  is  the  true  source  of  this  unpar- 
alleled discovery.  Still  others  think  that  the  sudden  ex- 
pansion of  the  carbonic  acid  gas  given  off  by  the  heated 
limestone,  which  is  also  common  in  this  country,  could 
have  easily  produced  the  ice.  But  thus  far  the  theories 
are  nothing  more  than  speculation,  and  further  than  the 
fact  that  the  ice  cave  exists,  and  is,  indeed,  a  remarkable 
phenomenon,  none  has  been  able  to  further  determine." 

In  1 896,  Dr.  A.  Cvijic  wrote  that  the  cold  air  of  winter 
is  the  source   of  cold  in  the  glacieres  of  Servia.     The 


306          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

mountains  have  so  little  water  that  the   shepherds  con- 
stantly take  the  ice  out  in  summer  for  their  own  use. 

In  1897,  numerous  newspapers,  among  others,  the 
Philadelphia  Press  of  August  ist,  romanced  as  follows 
about  the  cave  at  Decorah :  "In  the  summer  its  tempera- 
ture is  far  below  freezing.  *  *  *  From  some  unknown 
source  in  the  impenetrable  rear  of  the  cave  comes  a 
blast  of  cold  air  as  chill  as  from  the  Arctic  region.  In 
the  winter  the  temperature  of  the  cave  is  like  summer. 
*  *  *  \Ve  followed  the  winding  passage  in  and  out 
for  more  than  1000  feet.  *  *  *  I  took  out  the  ther- 
mometer and  laid  it  upon  the  floor  of  the  cavern  for  three 
minutes.  When  I  took  it  up  again  I  found  that  the 
mercury  had  fallen  to  5  degrees  below  zero." 

"  What  is  it  that  causes  this  phenomenon  ?  Scientific 
men  are  said  to  have  visited  the  cave  within  the  last  day  or 
two  who  have  declared  that  it  had  in  some  manner  a  sub- 
terranean connection  with  the  polar  regions,  and  that  the 
cold  air  from  the  North  coming  in  contact  with  the  warm 
moist  atmosphere  from  outside  converted  the  vapor  into 
water  on  the  walls  of  the  cavern  where  it  straightway  con- 
gealed. *  *  *  It  seems  to  me  possible  after  thinking 
the  matter  over  carefully,  that  in  some  mysterious  manner 
the  same  influences  that  work  the  changes  in  climate  in 
the  Arctic  and  Antarctic  regions  are  operating  in  this 
cave.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  the  regions  re- 
ferred to  the  seasons  are  the  reverse  of  what  they  are 
here." 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  307 

Mr.  W.  S.  Auchincloss  writes  in  1897:  "We  also 
notice  the  working  of  the  same  principle  during  summer 
days.  The  hottest  part  does  not  occur  at  the  noon  hour — 
when  the  sun  is  on  the  meridian — but  several  hours  later 
in  the  afternoon.  In  this  case  the  accessions  of  heat  ar- 
rive more  rapidly  than  radiation  is  able  to  carry  off.  Radia- 
tion, however,  keeps  on  apace,  and,  at  last  attaining  the 
mastery,  temperature  falls.  Ice  caves  furnish  another  ex- 
ample of  the  gradual  procession  in  the  seasons." 


Mr.  Alois  F.  Kovarik  writes  about  Decorah  in 
that  "the  length  of  duration  of  the  ice  in  the  cave  during 
the  spring  and  summer  depends  upon  the  quantity  of 
cold  stored  up  in  the  walls  and  this  again  upon  the  cold- 
ness and  the  length  of  coldness  of  the  previous  winter. 
If  the  winter  be  severe  and  long,  the  walls  will  store  up  a 
great  supply  of  cold  for  the  gradual  dissipation  in  the 
spring  and  summer  and  consequently  the  phenomenon  of 
the  ice  in  the  ice  chambers  will  last  longer.  Last  winter, 
with  an  exception  of  the  fore  part  of  December,  was  quite 
mild.  As  a  result,  the  ice  began  to  disappear  with  the 
latter  part  of  June,  and  totally  disappeared  by  the  end  of 
July.  *  *  *  The  time  of  the  lowest  temperature  in 
the  cave  depends  upon  how  soon  the  cold  spells  of  the 
winter  begin ;  for  the  sooner  the  walls  begin  to  freeze  to 
a  greater  depth,  the  sooner  have  they  stored  up  the 
greatest  amount  of  cold.  *  *  *  February  28th,  1898, 
when  the  walls  contained  the  greatest  amount  of  cold, 
there  was  no  ice  in  the  cave,  for  the  reason  that  no  water 


308  GLACIERES    OR    FREEZING    CAVERNS. 

made  appearance.  Could  water  have  appeared,  no  doubt 
a  great  amount  of  ice  would  have  formed ;  but  as  the  con- 
ditions are,  the  water  has  to  come  from  the  ground  out- 
side, and  this  being  frozen  at  the  time,  water  could  not  in 
any  natural  way  appear.  If  in  early  spring,  sufficiently 
warm  days  should  come  to  melt  the  snow  and  open  the 
ground,  the  water  not  taken  up  by  the  ground  would  flow 
and  seep  through  crevices  into  the  cave  and  ice  conse- 
quently would  appear  early.  Somewhat  such  conditions 
prevailed  this  year,  for  warm  days  appeared  quite  early  in 
the  spring.  If  per  contra  the  ground  does  not  open  until 
in  April,  as  was  the  case  in  1895  and  1896,  the  appearance 
of  the  ice  is  consequently  delayed.  *  *  *  Naturally 
this  opening  [the  entrance]  was  small,  but  to  give  easier 
entrance,  it  was  enlarged  to  its  present  size.  *  *  * 
If  the  entrance  had  been  left  a  small  opening,  as  it 
naturally  was,  it  is  my  belief  that  the  temperature  of  the 
interior  of  the  cave  would  be  lower  in  summer  than  it  is, 
and  the  ice  would  not  disappear  as  soon  as  it  does." 

Mr.  Robert  Butler,  of  San  Jose,  Cal.,  investigated  the 
question  of  cold  air  draughts  coming  from  the  glaciere 
cave  and  from  the  freezing  shaft  he  examined  in  Montana. 
He  wrote  to  me,  in  1898,  that  he  found  that  one  notices 
or  imagines  to  notice  a  draught  of  air,  especially  on  hot 
days.  Rapidly  walking  into  the  cave  from  the  hot  air  with- 
out to  the  rapidly  cooling  air  within  produces  the  same 
nervous  sensations  as  though  one  were  to  remain  station- 
ary and  the  air  were  to  pass  by  from  the  warm  to  the 


SOME    OPINIONS    ABOUT    GLACIERES.  309 

colder  portions.  A  distance  of  twelve  meters  finds  a 
difference  in  temperature  of  fifteen  degrees  Centigrade. 
Twelve  meters  can  be  walked  quickly,  so  quickly  that  the 
nerves  cannot  become  accustomed  gradually  to  the  change 
of  temperature.  The  rapidly  cooling  air  does  actually  pro- 
duce the  sensation  of  cool  air  passing  by  one's  face.  It 
produces  somewhat  the  same  sensation  as  the  evapora- 
tion of  ether  on  the  surface  of  the  body.  Mr.  Butler 
satisfied  himself  that  as  far  as  he  had  observed  all  the 
seemingly  peculiar  conditions  and  places  where  the  ice 
has  been  found  do  not  indicate  any  other  causes  when 
carefully  investigated  than  those  of  the  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  that  the  ice  was  formed  by  no  other  cause 
than  the  natural  cold  of  winter. 

^ 

Professor  Cranmer,  in  1899,  added  some  important  con- 
tributions to  our  knowledge  of  freezing  caverns.  All  his 
work  goes  to  prove  the  winter's  cold  theory,  but  he  has 
brought  out  some  new  details.  He  found  warm  and  cold 
periods  in  the  Tablerloch  during  the  winter  months.  The 
coldest  air  sank  to  the  bottom  and  the  air  in  the  cave 
stratified  itself  according  to  its  specific  gravity  and  its 
temperature.  During  a  cold  period,  the  outside  air  sank 
into  the  cave  only  to  the  air  stratum,  whose  temperature, 
from  the  preceding  warm  period,  was  as  much  higher  as 
that  of  the  outer  air,  as  this  had  become  warmer  in  sink- 
ing to  that  stratum.  The  air  which  enters  falls  down  the 
slope  and  displaces  an  equal  volume  of  air  which  streams 
out  under  the  roof. 


3io  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Water  will  sometimes  drip  through  a  crack  in  winter 
until  that  crack  freezes  up,  when  the  water  may  then  find 
some  other  crack  to  drip  through ;  at  this  second  place 
a  stalagmite  may  then  grow,  while  at  the  first  place  the 
stalagmite  may  stop  growing  and  even  begin  to  diminish 
from  evaporation. 

Ice  begins  to  form,  whenever  water  gets  into  a  cave, 
if  the  cave  temperature  is  below  o°  ;  ice  begins  to  melt 
as  soon  as  the  temperature  is  over  o°. 

Professor  Cranmer  found  that  occasionally  small  quan- 
tities of  ice  form  in  caves  in  the  summer  months:  this 
was  in  mountain  caves,  where  there  was  snow  on  the 
mountains  and  the  temperature  of  the  nights  at  least, 
had  sunk  below  freezing  point:  in  fact  when  the  condi- 
tions were  those  of  the  winter  months. 


PART  V. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS, 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS. 


75 


ALLEN,  LEVI.  Scientific  American,  New  Series,  October 
27th,  1883,  page  259. 

American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1839,  v°l-  XXXVI., 
page  184. 

AUCHINCLOSS,  W.  S.,  C.  E.  Waters  within  the  Earth  and 
the  Laws  of  Rainflow,  Philadelphia,  1897. 

BADIN,  ADOLPHE.    Grottes  et  Cavernes,  Paris,  Hachette,  1867. 

BAEDEKER,  KARL.  Handbook  of  Austria.  Handbook  of  the 
Eastern  Alps.  Handbook  of  South  Eastern  France. 
Handbook  of  Switzerland.  Handbook  of  the  United 
States. 

BAKER,  M.  S.  The  Lava  Region  of  Northern  California: 
Sierra  Club  Bulletin,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  1899, 
vol.  II.,  page  318. 

BALCH,  EDWIN  SWIFT.  Ice  Caves  and  the  Causes  of  Sub- 
terranean Ice:  Allen,  Lane  &  Scott,  Philadelphia, 
November,  1896,  and  The  Journal  of  the  Franklin 
Institute,  Philadelphia,  March,  1897,  vol.  CXLIIL, 
pages  161-178.  Ice  Cave  Hunting  in  Central  Europe  : 
Appalachia,  Boston,  1897,  vol.  VIII.,  pages  203—209. 

75  This  list  of  authors  includes  all  the  authorities  which  I  have  per- 
sonally consulted.  Several  papers,  such  as  Dr.  Schwalbe's  "Ueber- 
sichtliche  Zusammenstellung  Literarischer  Notizen  ueber  Eishohlen" 
and  the  works  of  Dr.  Listoff,  I  have  been  unable  to  find  in  any  library. 


314          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

Subterranean  Ice  Deposits   in   America:   Journal  of 

the  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia,  April,  1899,  vol. 

CXLVII.,  pages  286-297. 
BALTZER,  DR.  A.    Eine  Neue  Eishohle  im  Berner  Oberland : 

Jahrbuch  des  Schweizer  Alpen  Club,  Bern,  1892—1893, 

pages  358-362. 
BEHRENS,     DR.    GEORG    HENNING.      Hercynia     Curiosa, 

Nordhausen,    1703. 
BEL,    MATTHIAS.      Philosophical     Transactions;    London, 

1739,  vol.  XLI.,  page  41  et  seq. 

BENEDICT,  AIDEN  S.     Decorah  Republican,  June  igth,  1881. 
BERTHOUD,  EDWARD  L.     American  Journal  of  Science  and 

Arts,  Third  Series,  1876,  vol.  XL,  page  108. 
BIELZ,  E.  ALBERT.    Siebenburgen,  Handbuch,  Carl  Graeser, 

Wien,  1885. 
BILLEREZ,  MONS.  DE.     Histoire  de  V  Academie  Royale  des 

Sciences,  1712,  page  22  et  seq. 
BONNEY,  T.  G.      The  Alpine  Regions,  1868.      Nature,  vol. 

XL,  pages  310,  327,  328. 
BOUE,  DR.  AMI.     La  Turquie  d1  Europe,  Paris,  1840,  vol. 

I.,  page  132.     Sitzungsbericht  der   K.  K.   Akademie 

der    Wissenschaften   in    Wien,    1864,    I.    Theil,    page 

321  et  seq. 
Boz,  MONS.  DE,  INGENIEUR  DU  ROY.     Histoire  de  r  Acade- 

mie  Royale  des  Sciences,  1726,  pages  16,  17. 
BROWNE,  THE  REVEREND  G.  F.     Ice  Caves  in  France  and 

Switzerland,  London,  Longmans,  1865.     Ice  Caves  of 

Annecy :  Good  Words,  Edinburgh,  November,   1866. 
Bulletin,  The  Evening,  Philadelphia,  March  ist,  1899. 


LIST   OF   AUTHORS.  315 

BURSLEM,  CAPTAIN  ROLLO.    A  Peep  into  Toorkisthan,  1846. 

C.  B.  A.     Scientific  American,  May  3d,  1879. 

CANTWELL,  LIEUTENANT  J.  C.      Ice  Cliffs  on  the  Kowak 

River:  National  Geographic  Magazine,  October,  1896. 
CARREL,  CHANOINE  G.     Bibliotheque  Universellede  Geneve, 

1841,  vol.  XXXIV.,  page  196. 
Christian  Herald,  March  24th,  1897. 
COLLADON.     His   manuscript   notes  were   used  by  J.  A. 

Deluc  in  Annales  de   Chimie  et  de  Physique,   Paris, 

1822,  vol.  XXL,  page   113  et  seq. 

COSSIGNY,    MONS.    DE,    INGENIEUR    EN     CHEF     DE    BESANCON. 

Memoires  de  Mathematique  et  de  physique  presentes  a 

r  Academie  Roy  ale  des  Sciences,   1750,    vol.    I.,  page 

195  etseq. 
CRANMER,  PROFESSOR   HANS.     Eishohlen  und   Windrohren 

Studien:   Abhandlungen    der   K.  K.   Geographischen 

Gesellschaft  in  Wien,vo\.\.,   1899. 
CRANMER,  PROFESSOR  HANS,  AND  SIEGER,  PROFESSOR  DR. 

ROB.      Untersuchungen   in  den    Oetscherhohlen :    Glo- 

bus,  1899,  vol.  LXXV.,  pages  313-318,  and  333-335. 
Cvijic,    DR.    A.      Les    Glacieres    Naturelles    de    Serbie : 

Spelunca,  Bulletin   de  la   Societe  de   Speleologie,   2me 

Annee,  Paris,  1896,  pages  64-77. 
DAWKINS,  PROFESSOR  W.  BOYD.     Cave  Hunting,  London, 

Macmillan,  1874. 
DsLuc,  JEAN  ANDRE,  NEVEU.     Des  Glacieres  Naturelles 

et  de  la   cause   qui  forme  la  glace  dans  ces  cavites, 

Geneve   12  October,  1822  :  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de 

Physique,  Paris,  1822,  vol.  XXL,  page  113  et  seq. 


316          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

DENT,  R.  K.,  AND  HILL,  JOSEPH.  Historic  Staffordshire, 
Birmingham,  1896. 

DEWEY.  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1819, 
vol.  I.,  page  340,  and  1822,  vol.  V.,  page  398. 

Dispatch:  Frankford,  Pennsylvania,  2 2d  January,  1897. 

DITTMAR,  C.  v.  Ueber  die  Eismulden  int  Ostlichen  Sibi- 
rien:  Bulletin  de  la  dasse  Physico-mathematique  de 
F  Academie  Imperiale  des  Sciences  de  St.  Petersbourg, 
1853,  Tome  XL,  pages  305-312. 

DRIOTON,  CLEMENT.  Les  Cavernes  de  la  Cote  a"  Or  : 
Memotres  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie,  Paris,  1897, 
vol.  I.,  page  209. 

DUFOUR,  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.  Notice  sur  la  caverne 
et  glaciere  naturelle  du  Rothhorn :  Bibliotheque  Uni- 
verselle  de  Geneve,  1822,  vol.  XXL,  page  113  et  seq. 

DUFOUR,  L.  Ueber  das  Gefrieren  des  Wassers  und  uber 
die  Bildung  des  Hagels :  Poggendorff's  Annalen  der 
Physik  und  Chemie,  1861,  vol.  CXI V.,  pages  530-554. 

DUN  ANT,  C.  Le  Parmelan  et  ses  Lapiaz :  Annuaire  du 
Club  Alpin  Fran$ais,  2me  vol.,  Paris,  1875. 

FUGGER,  PROFESSOR  EBERHARD.  Uber  Eishohlen :  Peter- 
manns  Mittheilungen,  vol.  XXIX.,  1883,  pages  12-19. 
Beobachtungen  in  den  Eishohlen  des  Untersberges, 
Salzburg,  1888.  Eishohlen  und  Windrohen,  Salzburg, 
1891,  1892,  1893.  Eishohlen  und  Windrohren  :  Mit- 
theilungen der  K.  K.  Geographischen  Gesellschaft, 
Vienna,  1894,  pages  97-134. 

Geographie,  La :  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  Geographic, 
Paris,  1900,  vol.  L,  pages  52-54. 


LIST   OF    AUTHORS.  317 

GEORGI,  JOHN  GOTTL.     Bemerkungen  einer  Reise  im  Rus- 

sischen  Reich,  Saint  Petersburg,  1775,  vol.  I.,  page  369. 
GIBBS,  G.     American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1853, 

Second  Series,  vol.  XV.,  page  146. 
GIRARDOT,  ALBERT.     Les    dernieres  observations  du    Cap- 

itaine  L.  Trouillet  a  la  glacier e  de  Chaux-les-Passavant : 

Memoir es  de  la  Societe  d'  Emulation  du  Doubs,  1886. 
GIROD-CHANTRANS,    LE    CITOYEN.      Journal    des    Mines, 

Prairial,  An.  IV.,  pages  65-72. 
GOLLUT,  Lois.      Les  Memoires  Historiques  de  la  Repub. 

Sequanoise,  Dole,   1592. 
GUIMARD,    PAUL.       Voyage    en   Islande   et  au    Greenland 

execute  pendant  les  annees  1835  et  1836,  Paris,  1838. 
GUYOT,  PROFESSOR  ARNOLD.      Well's  Annual  of  Scientific 

Discovery,   1856,  page   190. 
HABLIZL.        Description    physique    de    la    contree    de    la 

Tauride,  La  Haye,  1788,  pages  35-43. 
HACQUET.     Oryctographia  Carniolica,  Leipzig,   1778. 
HAGER,  ALBERT  D.    Hitchcock's  Geology  of  Vermont,  1861, 

vol.  I.,  page   198  et  seq. 
HANN,    HOCHSTETTER    AND    POKONY.       Allgemeine    Erd- 

kunde,   1887,  pages  435,  436. 
HAYDEN,  C.  B.     American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts, 

1843,  vol.  XLV.,  page  78. 
HEILPRIN,  PROFESSOR  ANGELO.     Ice  Caves  and  Ice  Gorges: 

Around  the  World,  Philadelphia,  1894,  pages  194, 195. 
HENDERSON,  EBENEZER.    Iceland,  or  a  Journal  of  a  Resi- 
dence  in   that  Island,  Edinburgh,   1819,   2d  Edition, 

page  420. 


318          GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

HITCHCOCK,    PROFESSOR    EDWARD.      Geology    of   Vermont, 

1 86 1,  vol.  I. 
Histoire  de  r  Academie  Roy  ale  des  Sciences ',  1686,  Tome  II., 

pages  2,  3,  22  :  published  in  Paris  in  1733. 
HOVEY,    THE    REVEREND    HORACE    CARTER.      Celebrated 

American     Caverns,      Cincinnati,      Robert     Clarke, 

1882. 
HUMBOLDT,    ALEXANDER    VON.      Personal    Narrative    of 

Travels   to   the  Equinoctial  Regions,   London,    1814, 

vol.  I.,  pages  154-156. 

Ice    Trade  Journal,  Philadelphia,  July,   1897. 
Into    the   Schafloch :    Temple   Bar,    London,    November, 

1 86 1,  vol.  III.,  pages  393-401. 

JACKSON.  Report  of  the  Geology  of  Maine,  1839,  vol.  III. 
JARS.  Voyages  Metallurgiques,  1774,  vol.  I.,  page  108. 
JARZ,  KONRAD.  Die  Eishohlen  bei  Frain  in  Mahren  : 

Petermanns  Mittheilungen,   1882,  pages   170—176. 
JUNGK,     C.     G.      Ueber   Temper aturerniedrigung    bei  der 

Absorption  des  Wassers  durch  feste  Korper :  Poggen- 

dorff's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,   1865,  vol. 

CXXIV.,  pages  292-308. 

KIRCHER,  ATHANASIUS.     Mundus  Subterraneus,   1664. 
KIRCHHOFF,     THEODORE.      Reisebilder    und   Skizzen   aus 

America,  1876,  vol.  II.,  page  211. 
KORBER,   H.     Das    Schafloch :    Jahrbuch    des    Schweizer 

Alpen  Club,    Bern,   1885,  vol.  XX.,    pages  316-343. 
KOTZEBUE,  OTTO   VON.      A   Voyage  of  Discovery  into  the 

South  Sea  and  Bering 's  Strait  in  the  years  1815-1818, 

London,  1821,  vol.  I.,  page  220. 


LIST    OF   AUTHORS.  319 

KOVARIK,  ALOIS  F.  The  Decorah  Ice  Cave  and  its  Ex- 
planation:  Scientific  American  Supplement,  No.  1195, 
November  26,  1898,  pages  19158,  19159.  Ice  Cave 
Observations:  Decorah  Public  Opinion,  September 
2Oth,  1899. 

KRAUS,  FRANZ.     Hohlenkunde,  Wien,  1894. 

KRENNER,  DR.  Jos.  ALEX.  Die  Eishohle  von  Dobschau, 
Budapest,  1874. 

LATHROP,  DR.  S.  PEARL.  American  Journal  of  Science  and 
Arts,  1844,  vol.  XLVI.,  page  331. 

LEE,  C.  A.  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1824, 
vol.  VIII.,  page  254. 

LEPECHIN,  DR.  IWAN.  Tagebuch  der  Reise  durch  verschie- 
denen  Provinzen  des  Russischen  Reiches  in  den  Jahren 
1768,  1769,  Altenburg,  1774. 

LOHMANN,  HANS.  Das  Hohleneis  unter  besonderer  Beruck- 
sichtigung  einiger  Eishohlen  des  Erzgebirges,  Jena, 

1895- 

LOOMIS,  PROFESSOR  ELIAS.  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Jour- 
nal, New  Series,  1860,  vol.  XII.,  page  283. 

LOWE,  N.  M.  Paradoxical  Phenomena  in  Ice  Caves  : 
Science  Observer,  vol.  II.,  pages  57,  58,  Boston,  1879. 

LOWE,  W.  BESANT.  La  Glaciere  Naturelle  de  Dobschau: 
La  Nature,  26.  August,  1879. 

LYELL,  SIR  CHARLES.  Principles  of  Geology,  nth  Edition, 
New  York,  Appleton  &  Co.,  1877. 

M.  L.  E.     Decorah  Republican,  June  loth,  1879. 

MACOMBER,  D.  O.  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts, 
1839,  vol.  XXXVI.,  page  184. 


32O  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

MARBACH,  DR.  OSWALD.     Hohlen:  Physikalisches  Lexicon, 
vol.  III.,  pages  836-842. 

MARINITSCH,  J.  La  Kacna  Jama :  Memoir es  de  la  So- 
ciete de  Speleologie,  April,  1896,  vol.  I.,  page  83  et  seq. 

MARTEL,  EDOUARD  ALFRED.  Les  Abimes,  Paris,  Charles 
Delagrave,  1 894.  Sous  Terre :  Annuaire  du  Club 
Alpin  Francais,  vol.  XXIIL,  1896,  pages  42,  43. 
Reviews  in  French  of  Ice  Caves  and  the  Causes,  etc., 
and  Ice  Cave  Hunting,  etc.,  by  E.  S.  Balch :  Memoires 
de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie,  Paris,  vol.  I.,  December, 
1897,  pages  349—352.  lome  Campagne  Souterraine  : 
Memoires  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie,  vol.  III.,  1899, 
pages  246-254. 

MEEHAN,  W.  E.     Philadelphia  Ledger,  1896. 

MEISSNER,  FRANZ.  Ueber  die  beim  Benetzen  pulverformiger 
Korper  auftretende  Wdrmetonung :  Wiedemanris  An- 
nalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  1886,  vol.  XXIX., 
pages  114-131. 

MENEGAUX.  La  Glaciere  Naturelle  de  la  Grdce-Dieu  ou 
de  Chaux-les-Passavant :  Illustration,  Paris,  3Oth  Jan- 
uary, 1897. 

MERCER,  HENRY  CHAPMAN.  The  Hill  Caves  of  Yucatant 
Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott,  1896. 

MIDDENDORFF,  DR.  A.  TH.  VON.  Zusatz :  Bulletin  de  la 
classe  physico-mathematique  de  r  Academie  Imperiale 
des  Sciences  de  St.  Peter sbourg,  1853,  Tome  XL, 
pages  312-316. 

MONTPEYREUX,  DuBois  DE.  Voyage  autour  du  Caucase, 
1843. 


LIST   OF    AUTHORS.  321 

MORIN,    AUGUSTE.       Quoted    by    Thury    in    Bibliotheque 

Universelle  de  Geneve,  1861,  vol.  X.,  page  150. 
MOUSSON,  A.     Einige  Thatsachen  betreffend  das  Schmelzen 

und  Gefrieren  des   Wassers :  Poggendorff' s  Annalen 

der  Physikund  Chemie,  1858,  vol.  CV.,  pages  161-174. 
MUNRO,  J.,   C.  E.      Jack   Frost  as  an   Artist :    CasselFs 

Family  Magazine,  February,  1895,  pages  228-231. 
MURCHISON,  VERNIEUL  AND  KEYSERLING.     The  Geology  of 

Russia  and  the  Ural  Mountains,   1845,  v°l-  !•»  pages 

186-198. 
NAGEL,  J.  N.     His  manuscript  was  published  in   1857  by 

Schmidl  in  Die  Hohlen  des  Otscher,  pages  36-39. 
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322  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

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LIST   OF   AUTHORS.  323 

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RAYMOND,  R.  W.  The  Ice  Caves  of  Washington  Terri- 
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REICH,  F.  Beobachtungen  ilber  die  Temper atur  des  Ges- 
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ROMAIN-JOLY,  FR.  JOSEPH,  CAPUCIN.  La  Franche-Comte, 
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ROSENMULLER,  DR.,  and  TILESIUS,  DR.  Beschreibung 
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RUSSELL,  PROFESSOR  ISRAEL  COOK.  A  Journey  up  the 
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324  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

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SARTORI,  DR.  FRANZ.  Naturwunder  des  Oesterreichischen 
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SCHMIDL,  PROFESSOR  DR.  ADOLF.  Die  Grotten  und 
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Scientific  American,  New  Series,  vol.  III.,  July,  1860,  page 
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LIST   OF   AUTHORS.  325 

SIEGER,  PROFESSOR  DR.  ROB.     See  CRANMER. 

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Spelunca,  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  Speleologie,  Paris.  Be- 
ginning with  January,  1895. 

STRACHEY,    GENERAL  SIR  RICHARD.     Narrative  of  a  Jour- 
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graphical Journal,  London,  1900,  vol.  XV.,  page  168. 

Telegraph,  The  Evening,  Philadelphia,  January  2d,  1896, 
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TERLANDAY,  PROFESSOR  EMIL.  Meine  Erfahrungen  in 
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THURY,  PROFESSOR.  Etudes  sur  les-  Glacier  es  Naturelles: 
Bibliotheque  Universelle,  Archives  des  Sciences  phys- 
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326  GLACIERES  OR  FREEZING  CAVERNS. 

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Ungarische  Monarchic,  Wien,  Pest,  Leipzig,  1883. 
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des  Herzogthumes  Grain,  Lay  bach,  1689. 
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189-190. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Adirondack  guides,   Opinions  of 81 

Alaska,  Subsoil  ice  in 166,  167 

Allmen,  Emil  von,  guide 21 

Altitude  of  glacieres 150 

Amarnath,  Cave  of 262 

Apparently  static  caves      122 

Arizona,  Glacieres  in      , 175,  176 

Auchincloss,  Mr.  W.  S 307 

Auersperg,  Prince 52 

Ausable  Pond,  Freezing  talus  at 79 

Balch,  Mrs.  Geo.  B 189 

Balch  Pass,  The 263 

Bargy,  Mont 71 

Basins,  Ice 20,  130 

Behrens 270 

Beilstein,  Caves  on  the 234 

Bel,   Matthias 254,  271 

Benedict,  Mr.  A.  S 293 

Benner,   Mr 9° 

Berthoule,   Mons 206 

Besan£on 

Billerez,  Mons.   de 270 

Bonney,  Professor  T.  G 216,222,  291 

Boston  Natural  History  Society 138,  182 

Bou6,  Dr.  A 242 

Boulder  heaps 116 

Boz,  Mons.  de 270 

Brandon,  Freezing  well  of 77,  182,  283,  284 

Brinckerhoff,  Mr.  F.  H 17? 

Briot,  Mons 204 

Brisons,  Glaciere  de 2 

(329) 


330  INDEX. 


PAGE 


Browne,  The  Rev.  G.  F.  .  133,  213,  215,  216,  219,  220,  221,  222,  288 

Bulletin,  The  Evening 253 

Buried  glaciers 165 

Burslem,  Captain 261 

Butler,  Mr.   R 171,  172,  308 

California,  Glaci£res  in 170,  171 

Canfield,  Mr.  N.  M 76 

Capillary  or  Compressed  Air  Theory 142 

Carbonic  acid  gas 133 

Carrel,  Chanoine 212 

Caucasus,  Glaci£res  in  the 257 

Cesi,  Don  Giuseppe 209 

Chapuis,  Glaci£re  de 5,  216 

Chatham,   Mr.   I.    C 94 

Chaux-les-Passavant,   Glaci£re  de 8,  193 

Chemical  causes  theory 140 

Cliff  caves 6,  18,  22,  27,  40,  70,  76,  120 

Clothes  for  glacidre  exploration 53 

Cold  caves 117 

Colladon,   Mons 278 

Color  effects 131 

Colorado,  Glacieres  in 174,  175 

Cossigny,  Mons.   de 202,  271 

Cotterlaz,  S.  J.,  guide 71 

Coxe,  Miss  Mary 262 

Cranmer,  Professor  H 232,  234,  235,  309 

Creux-de-Souci,  Le 206 

Crevasses 4 

Crimea,  Glacieres  in  the 256 

Gushing,  Mr.  F.  H 176 

Cvijic,   Dr.  A 243,  305 

Dante 135 

Daubuisson 248 

Dawkins,  Professor  W.  Boyd 292 

Decorah,  Freezing  cave  of 88,  177 

Decorah,  Freezing  well  of 89 


INDEX.  331 

PAGE 

Deluc,  Mons.  J.   A 277 

D6menyfSlva  Jegbarlang 24 

Dewey,   Mr 183,  277 

Dimensions  of  glacieres      120 

Dittmar,   Mons.   de 260 

D6bsina  Jegbarlang 13,  252 

D6bsina,  Village  of 13 

Dornburg,  Freezing  talus  at  the 59,  247 

Dornburg,   Freezing  cellar  at  the 60 

Draughts 8,  45,  47,  58,  80 

Dripstone  formations  in  glacieres 24>  3°,  57,  63,  67,  304 

Due  de  L6vy 202 

Dunant,   Mons.  C 215,  216 

Dutoit,   Professor 221 

Eastern  Alps,  Glacieres  in  the 224-236 

Eastern  United  States,  Glacieres  in  the 180-189 

Eger,  Dr.  W 262 

Ehrlicher,   Mr 86 

Eisenerz 37 

Elkinsville,  Glaciere  at 180,  305 

Ellenville,  Freezing  gorge  at 91,  185 

Emery,  Aymon,  guide 62,    65 

Enfer,  Glaciere  de  1' 215 

England,  Glacieres  in      192,  193 

Entrances  of  glacieres 121 

Eschholz,   Dr 167 

Evaporation      156,  275,  287,  296,  298,  300,  302,  304 

Farrandsville,  Cave  at 93 

Farnum,   Mr.   G.   L 266 

Farnum,   Mr.  J.  E 266 

Fauna  of  glacieres 133,  207,  214,  216,  219,  246 

Fee  Glacier,  Ice  Cave  in 68 

Flora  of  glacieres 80,  83,  85,  91,  134,   188,  222,  237,  240 

Fondurle,  Glaciere  de 213 

Forms  of  Ice 126 

Frainer  Eisleithen,  The 33,  251 


332  INDEX. 


PAGE 


France,   Glacieres  in 193-208,  213-218 

Frauenmauerhohle,  The 37 

Freezing  mines  and  tunnels 117 

Freezing  wells 74,  77,  89/117,  206 

Friedrichsteinerhohle 51 

Fugger,  Professor  E.     .    .    .    224,  226,  227,  228,  237,  249,  251,  294 

Genolliere,  Glaciere  de  la 48,  219 

Geographical  distribution  of  glacieres 149 

Germany,  Glacieres  in 246-250 

Giant  of  the  Valley,  Talus  of  the 81 

Girardot,   Mons.  A 204 

Girod-Chantrans,  Le  citoyen 272 

Glacial  period  theory,  The 136 

Glaciere,  Advantage  of  term no 

Glaciere  caves 118 

Glaciers 145 

Gollut,  Lois 202,  269 

Gorges  and  troughs 146,  260 

Great  Barrington,  Icy  gulf  near 99 

Gruber,  J.,   guide 18 

Gsoll-Alp 38 

Guyot,  Professor  A 281 

Hablizl 272 

Hacquet 271 

Hager,  Mr.  A.  D 182,  282 

Hall,  Mr.  W.  Coleman 187 

Hart,  Mr.  B 76 

Hartenstein,  Professor 249 

Haut-d' Aviernoz,  Glaciere  de  1' 2,  215 

Hayden,  Professor  C.  B 280 

Heilprin,  Professor  A 93,  185 

Herschel,  Sir  John 141 

Hitchcock,   Professor  E 284 

Hoar  frost 16,  30,  129 

Holes  in  ice 4,  42,  64,  130 

Hollow  ice  stalagmites 23,  127,  287,  290 


INDEX.  333 

PAGE 

Holschuh,   Mr.  F !88 

Hovey,  The  Rev.  H.  C !86 

Howell,  Mr.  E.  I.  H 80,  83 

Humboldt,  Alexander  von 276 

Ice  floors 4,  7,  u,  15,  19,  22,  30,  42,  54,  64,  72 

Ice  formed  by  radiation 263-266 

Iceland,  Glacieres  in 190,    191 

Ice  near  entrance  of  caves 152 

Ice  sheets,  Subterranean 115 

Ice  slabs  on  floor 20 

Ice  slopes      4,  17,  19,  23,  52,  67 

Ice  Spring,  Oregon,  The 169 

Ice  stalactites  and  stalagmites   ....     3,  7,  12,  23,  30,  42,  73,  127 
Italy,    Glacieres  in 208-213 

Japan,   Glaciere  in 266 

Jayne,   Mrs.   Horace 189 

Joly,  Capucin  Remain 272 

Karst,  Glacieres  in  the 236-242 

King's  Ravine,   Subterranean  ice  in I 

Kirchhoff,   Mr.  T 292 

Klenka,   S.,  guide 51 

Kolowratshohle,  The 18,  226 

Korber,  Herr  B 222,  294 

Korea,  Glaciere  in 266 

Kovarik,  Mr.  A.  F 89,  178,  180,  307 

Krain,  Glacieres  in  the 236-242 

Krauss,  Regierungsrath  F 3°3 

Krenner,  Dr 


Lakes,  Subterranean 7>  43 

Lamb,  Mr.  C.,  guide 8l 

Lathrop,    Mr.   S.  P 280 

Lava  caves,  Washington J68 

Learned,  Mr 86 


334  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Lee,  Mr.  C.  A 278 

Legends  about  glaci£res 135,  216 

Lepechin 258 

Lerchenfeld,  Freiherr  von 227 

Lewis,  Miss  J.  F 93 

Lewis,  Mr.  J.  F 129 

Lipt6s  Szt  Mikl6s 24 

Lohmann,  Dr.  H 302 

Lowe,  Mr.  C.  E.,  Jr 83 

Lowe,  Mr.  C.  E.,  Sr i,  85 

Lowe,  Mr.  N.  M 142,  292 

Luce,  Mr.  C.  0 78 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles 116,  210 

Manchester,  Marble  freezing  cave  at 76 

Marinitsch,  Herr  J 236 

Martel,  Mons.  E.A 205,  207,  208,  214,  221,  300 

McCabe,   Mr.   E 94 

Meehan,  Mr.  W.  E 165 

Mercer,  Mr.  H.  C 143,  187 

Metric  system 3 

Mist  in  caves 18,  55 

Misura,  F.,  forester 27 

Montana,  Glacieres  in 171-173 

Montarquis,  Grand  Cave  de 70,  217,  286 

Montarquis,  Petite  Cave  de 71 

Moonlight  effects 24,  33,  132 

Morin,    Mons 218 

Motion  in  subterranean  ice 131 

Movements  of  air 122,  156 

Murchison,  Sir  R.  1 141 

Nagel,   J.  N 271 

Naye,  Glaciere  de 221 

Nicholson,  Mr.  C.  J 95 

Niles,  Mr 81 

Nixloch,  The 57,  226 


INDEX.  335 

PAGE 

Oetscher,  The  Seeliicken  on  the 231 

Olmstaed,  Professor  D 282 

Otis,  Mr 81 

Oudot,  Dr 272 

Owego,  Freezing  well  of 74,  186 

Paleontological  remains - 134 

Parmelan,  Mont 3,  5 

Parrot,  G.  F 125 

Peasants,  Opinions  of 33,  70,  139 

Pelech,  Dr.  J.  E 252 

Periods  in  glacieres,  Open  and  closed •.    .    .    297 

Peters,  K.  F 246 

Petruzzi,  Professor 241,  282 

Phillips,  Mr.  G.  B 185 

Pictet,  Professor  M.  A 277 

Pit  caves 2,  3,  10,  48,  52,  63,  66,  119 

Pleischl,  Professor  A 250,  279 

Poissenot,  Benigne 193,  269 

PoprSd 13 

Pralong  du  Reposoir 70 

Press,  The  Philadelphia 3°6 

Preston,  Mr 74 

Prestwich,  Mr 248 

Prevost,  Professor  P 273 

Prismatic  ice 64,  67,  129,  287,  289,  303 

Public  Ledger,  The 169 

Randolph,  The  Ice  Gulch, 83 

Raymond,  Mr.  W.   R 291 

Reich,  F '. 279 

Religious  feeling  about  ice I35»  I?6,  262 

Ritchie,  Mr.  John,  Jr 76,  83,  85,  143,  181,  292 

Rogers,  Professor  W.   B 281 

Roth,   Eishohle  bei      35 

Rudolf  II.,  Kaiser 232 

Ruffiny,  Herr  E 252 

Rumney,  Freezing  talus  at 85 

Russell,  Professor  I.  C 1 66,  299 


336  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Saint- Georges,  Glaciere  de 62,  219,  285 

Saint-Georges,  Village  of 62 

Saint-Livres,  Glaci£re  de 65 

Saint-Livres,  Pr6  de 66 

Sakharov,   Dr.  A 257 

Samuel,   Mr.    B 192,  209,  264 

Sartori,   Dr.   F 276 

Satter,  Professor  H 241 

Saussure,  H.  B.  de 209,  274 

Scandinavia,  Glacieres  in 191 

Schafloch,  The 21,  222 

Schallenberger,   C 232,  269 

Schellenberger  Eisgrotte,  The       227 

Schwalbe,   Dr.  B 241,  253,  298 

Scott,  Professor  W.  B 176 

Scrope,  Mr.  G.  P 278 

Seelisberg,  The  Milchhaiiser  of 45 

Selby-Hill,  Mr.  W.   D 88 

Servia,   Glacieres  in 242-245 

Skerizora,  Cave  of 245 

Skinner's  Cave 76 

Siberia,   Glacieres  in 259-261 

Sieger,  Professor 232 

Silliman,   Professor 279 

Sirar,  J.,  guide 56 

Snow,  Subterranean .    .     16,  129,  206,  247 

South  America,  Subsoil  ice  in 189,  190 

Spruce  Creek,  Freezing  talus  at 90,  188 

Stockbridge,   Icy  glen  near 75 

Strachey,   Gen.  Sir  R 263 

Strein,   R 232,  269 

Suchenreuther  Eisloch,  The 55 

Summer's  heat  theory,  The 138 

Summit,  Glacieres  near 95 

Switzerland,  Glacieres  in 219-223 

Szilize,  Cave  of 253 

Tablerloch,  The 233 

Taluses  .    '. 79,  81,  85,  90,  100,  116 

Temperatures,  Subterranean 112 


INDEX.  337 

PACK 

Teneriffe,  Glaciere  on  the  Peak  of 190 

Terlanday,  Dr 301 

Terminology 109 

Thermometric  observations    .    .    .     151,  178,  219,  227,  228,  233,  237 

252,  253 

Thury,  Professor 122,  139,  213,  217,  219,  220,  285 

Time  of  formation  of  ice 159 

Townson,  R 275 

Trouillet,  Captain 202,  297 

Turrian,  A.  A.,  gendarme 48 

Umlauft,   Professor  F 293 

Ural,   Glacieres  in  the 257-259 

Valvasor,  Freiherr 238,   240,  270 

Villard,   Mons.   L 133,  214 

Vir6,  Mons.  A 134 

Wachtl,  Forester 252 

Wagner,   Mr.  W.  W 173 

Wallingford,  The  ice  beds   of 99 

Watertown,  Cave  at 87 

Watertown,  Windholes  at      86 

Waves  of  heat  and  cold,   Theory  of 141 

White,  Dr.  C.  A 291 

Williams,   Mr.  W.  F 101 

Williamstown,  Caves  near 101 

Williamstown,  The  snow  hole  near 98,  183 

Winter's  cold  theory,  The 147 

Windholes 61,  in,  117 

Windholes,  The  theory  of 124 

Wordsworth,  Verses  by I92 

Yeermallik,  Cave  of 261 

Ziegler,  Herr  J.  M 45 


